Jim Connolly Marketing

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

It’s the biggest lie in business

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Biggest lie in business, marketing motivation

Are you tired of prospective clients (or customers), who don’t get back to you when they say they will? If you are, here’s something you may find extremely useful. It’s all about the biggest lie in business.

Here’s the thing. Whenever a prospective client tells you they didn’t have the time to meet you, return your call or consider your offer… they’re lying.

The biggest lie in business is…

They had the time!

And you already knew this.

You already knew full well that.

  • They had the time to do all the urgent or important things. Obviously.
  • They also had the time to do stuff that interested them; check the news about that big story, text a friend, share a funny TikTok video.
  • Oh, and they definitely had enough time to check their social media accounts. Multiple times.

What they lacked wasn’t time.

No.

What they lacked was… motivation.

Specifically, the motivation to do whatever you requested. They just didn’t want to tell you. They thought they were being nice. The truth is that as far as they were concerned, whatever you requested wasn’t important or urgent enough. So, they didn’t consider it a priority. And that’s why it didn’t get done.

Okay Jim, how do I stop this from happening, and massively improve my results?

That’s a great question!

Here’s an answer…

Motivation, attraction and deadlines

To motivate your prospective clients and customers to take action, you need to do the following.

  • Make your offer as attractive as possible.
  • Start by looking at what you’re asking your prospects to do and make it sound more captivating. More interesting. More compelling. Remember, motivation comes from the words Motive and Action. When the motive is powerful enough, the action follows. So, use all your creativity to make whatever you’re offering as compelling as possible.
  • Then give them a deadline. Deadlines focus the mind. They create urgency, which is exactly what you need in order to motivate prospects to take action!
  • Note: Here’s another example of how to use deadlines.

Make no mistake, the most powerful way to motivate your prospective clients to take action, is to provide them with a highly compelling offer, which is attached to a deadline.

Get those 2 steps right and you’ll find the marketplace will make time for you. You’ll also enjoy a dramatic improvement in your sales and marketing results. And you’ll become pretty-much free from the biggest lie in business!

How to be number one. In a category of one!

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It’s tough being a service provider. There are so many of us in every industry. Not only that, a prospective client can find lower priced alternatives to us, on Google, in seconds.

With so many competitors, what can we do?

Well…

  • We could try and out-spend them on advertising. Of course, this eats into our profit margins.
  • We could try being the lowest priced. Of course, this almost eliminates our profits.
  • We could try joining a networking group. Of course, we’d be relying on fellow group members to provide us with leads… the very same people who need to attend the group because they can’t even get enough leads for their own businesses.

There are better alternatives though. And one that works extremely well, is to become number one in a category of one.

It’s the strategy I follow for my own business and one that could be just as effective for you and your business.

It works like this

Let’s imagine you’re an accountant. (You could equally be a mentor, financial advisor, lawyer, designer, trainer, marketing consultant or whatever). Anyhow, unlike your fellow accountants you choose to work exclusively with creative professionals. This immediately places you as number one in a category of one.

  • The fact you understand their profession at a super-deep level, sets you apart from the rest.
  • The fact you understand their terminology and speak their language, sets you apart from the rest.
  • The fact you understand the threats and opportunities specific to their industry, sets you apart from the rest.
  • The fact you understand their unique requirements, sets you apart from the rest.
  • The fact you understand the creative mindset, sets you apart from the rest.

And because you’re clearly more relevant to the creative industry, you will stand out as the obvious choice, to be their next accountant!

It’s hard to think of a service provider in any industry, who couldn’t transition themselves into being number one in a category of one.

Including you. Yes, including you!

Here’s what your marketplace wants from you right now

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Leaders leadership

Clearly, we are living in very uncertain times. And your prospective clients hate uncertainty. It makes them anxious. It creates confusion. It causes them stress.

What does this have to do with you and your business?

When things feel uncertain, people proactively look for leadership. They are powerfully drawn to those who display clarity, confidence, direction and a cool head.

So.

  • If you’re a leader, there’s never been a better time to demonstrate your leadership. (This shows you how).
  • If you’re thinking of becoming a leader, there’s never been a better time to get started.

Because that’s what your marketplace is eagerly looking for right now. They value it more than ever. And no matter what industry you serve, the opportunity is immediately open to you.

He’s very optimistic, as he slowly kills his business

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It’s important to feel optimistic about your business. However, the wrong kind of optimism will crush your chances of success.

Let me tell you about the meeting I had with Bob. His story explains exactly what I’m referring to.

I last spoke with Bob (not his real name) regarding his business, back in 2015. He’s the friend-of-a-friend and seems like a really nice guy. He’s also very optimistic about the future of his business. Optimistic enough to refinance his home, something he said he’d already done “more than once”. I found his optimism interesting, as in the 7 years since we last spoke, his business has barely limped along.

And back then, he’d already been struggling for years.

So, his business has been going nowhere for a very long time. And based on the plans he shared with me, there’s no realistic chance the business will see any future growth.

That’s because his business development ‘strategy’ totally fails to address his actual problems. Sadly for him, he’ll simply be repeating the same common errors that have been hurting his business all this time.

So, why is this happening and what’s the lesson?

The 2 types of optimism

Like I said at the beginning, it’s great to feel optimistic about your business. In fact, we have to be optimistic. But only if our optimism is justified. You see, there are 2 types of optimism. One is essential. The other one is toxic.

I’m referring to justified optimism and unjustified optimism.

  • Justified optimism is based on sound planning. It’s the confidence that comes from knowing you’re doing the right things, correctly. And the knowledge that your business is making measurable progress in the expected timescale. This kind of optimism is clearly justified.
  • Unjustified optimism is very different. It comes from ignoring the reality of your situation. It comes from hoping things will ‘just get better’, without making the ESSENTIAL improvements your business is screaming for. It’s rooted in fear; the fear of change and ironically, the fear of loss.

Unjustified optimism comes with a very dangerous side-effect: It has the exact same power on your mind, as justified optimism. If your business is stagnating or even shrinking, yet you choose to believe everything is going to be great, it acts like a narcotic.

A narcotic?

Yes, a narcotic!

Why?

Because pumping yourself up with optimism, even unfounded optimism, takes away the pain (or urgency) you need to feel, in order to motivate yourself to fix what’s wrong.

Here’s an example I use, when explaining this to groups of young entrepreneurs.

It’s like seeing black smoke bellowing from the back of your car, but choosing to ignore it and instead, telling yourself that your car is doing great. Even if you 100% believe your car is in amazing shape, the engine will still get trashed if you ignore all that black smoke. The unjustified optimism does nothing to solve the problem. It just stops you doing what’s required.

Business owners tend to be optimistic. Let’s face it, we have to be! The fact we started a business in the first place, with zero guarantee of success, takes a lot of optimism.

The key here is to make sure that our optimism is always justified. And that our optimism is grounded in the reality of our situation today, along with the plans we’re making for tomorrow.

Your business, Steve Jobs and Malcolm Gladwell

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marketing ideas reality

Today, I’d like to share a business development idea with you that’s seldom talked about. However, it’s a key factor in the success of some absolutely remarkable people and businesses.

Let’s go!

Malcolm Gladwell was once asked in an interview, if he would reveal his “secret sauce” for writing a best-selling book. After all, he should know! His reply was extremely interesting. Here’s a snippet from what he said:

“The moment you write a book hoping it will be a best-seller, your chances of it becoming a best-seller go downhill. […] You write the book you would want to read.”

He then went on to make an excellent point about Steve Jobs. He explained that Jobs never commissioned the development of a product or service, based on what he thought would be a smash hit. Instead, Jobs developed the type of products that he himself wanted to own.

Now, let’s unpack that and look for the common thread. Because it’s pure gold!

  • Malcolm Gladwell writes the kind of books, which he would want to read. And interestingly, his books are unlike any other books in his niche. (Until ditto-head authors decide to rip his ideas off). Gladwell’s books are also among the best selling non-fiction books of the last 2 decades. And those 2 factors are directly connected.
  • Steve Jobs created products he wanted to own. He famously shunned focus groups, deliberately striving to produce the kind of remarkable products he longed for. In doing so, Jobs’ success with Apple led to his company being the most highly valued in the world. Again, those 2 factors are directly connected. Recommended reading – Steve Jobs, marketing and liars!

In short, deliver the level of service that you’d love to receive. Create compelling products that you would love to own. Develop solutions for pressing challenges, which you’d love someone to solve. And make the experience of doing business with you so exceptional, that it would knock you off your feet if you were the customer or client.

Success leaves clues. Our job is to find them and apply them into our businesses.

Discover how the top companies keep getting the best referrals

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In today’s post, I’m going to show you a powerful way to get more, great people talking about the services you provide. But that’s not all. I’m also going to explain how to overcome a major problem: how to get people to say the right things about you.

KFC image

I’ll even throw in a world-class example of how it works.

Okay let’s go

The starting point, is to decide exactly what you want people to say. Otherwise, you’re relying on them making something up on the spot. And usually, when someone is asked if they can recommend a provider, it will be a generic, weak message.

For example, if you ask someone if they have an accountant they’d recommend, the reply is usually something like; “Sure. We’re happy with the (Whatever) Accountancy Firm”.

That’s nice.

But all it really says, is that this particular person is happy with the service they receive. It’s the bare minimum. It’s vague. It says nothing about the service this accountancy firm provides. And it’s certainly not compelling.

Here’s why this matters to you: It’s entirely possible you’re already being regularly referred or recommended to great prospective clients. But you’re unaware, because, as in the above example, the referral is totally ineffective. And an ineffective referral is close to worthless.

Let’s see how the fastest growing companies overcome this problem.

How to get this right

Okay, let’s look at that accountancy firm again.

Only this time, they were professionally marketed and had already incorporated a short, memorable strapline in their branding. Something like “building stronger businesses”. If used correctly, that 3 word phrase would become an automatic part of their referrals.

So, instead of; “Sure. We’re happy with the (Whatever) Accountancy Firm.”

You get; “Sure. We’re happy with the (Whatever) Accountancy Firm. They specialize in building stronger businesses.”

That second referral is massively more powerful with far greater impact.

Think about it. If someone is looking for a new accountant, they’re clearly not happy with their current one. If we assume their existing accountant isn’t really interested in their business, a trusted referral about an accountant that focuses on building stronger businesses is exactly what they want to hear. Such referrals could be 2X, 5X or maybe 10X more powerful at encouraging people to call the accountant, than a simple “we’re happy with them”.

Here’s the thing: Most businesses make it too hard for their clients, customers or friends to know what to say when referring them. And it loses them a fortune.

Make it easier. Correctly integrate an easy to remember 3 or 4 word strapline into your marketing, so people don’t have to make something up on the spot. When you get it right, that strapline becomes part of the conversations people have about you.

That example took me 30 seconds to come up with. Now let’s look at a proven, world-class example of how this works.

How good is their food?

The marketing team behind Kentucky Fried Chicken wanted to give their diners a simple way to describe how delicious the food was. So, they made it very simple. They placed a short, powerful strapline on all their packaging.

It described their food as, “finger lickin’ good”.

And the rest is history!

Those who ate and enjoyed their chicken, now knew exactly what to tell their friends. Moreover, they were delivering an amazingly powerful, professionally written marketing message.

Regardless of whether you happen to like fried chicken, the mental image created with that message is powerful. The idea of people enjoying their food so much that they licked their fingers, would surely motivate their hungry friends to give KFC a try. Plus, because people who eat at fast-food restaurants know other people who also enjoy fast-food, it was pure, marketing gold.

So, the message spread. Millions or billions of times. Worldwide.

Try this

Take some time to think about want you want people to say about your business or the service you provide. Then, spend as much time as necessary crafting a powerful, extremely short strapline. If you don’t have the time or expertise to get this right, find a professional who will do it for you.

Just don’t keep missing out on great word of mouth referrals or targeted sales leads, because people aren’t recommending you correctly.