Jim Connolly Marketing

The persuasion gap

By |

marketing tip, the persuasion gap, sales

Today, I’d like to show you a great way to make far more prospects hire you or buy from you.

Here’s what we know.

  • Testimonials from former customers or clients have limited persuasive effect on a prospect. Everyone uses them. And they’re always positive.
  • Samples of previous work we’ve done have limited persuasive effect on a prospect. Everyone uses them. And they’re always best-case examples.
  • Even being recommended to the prospect by someone they trust has limited persuasive effect. Everyone’s been let down by something recommended by a friend.

What’s left is what I call the persuasion gap: It’s the gap between how persuaded the prospect is, and how persuaded the prospect needs to be, before they will hire you or buy from you. 

So, how do you fill the persuasion gap?

We start by understanding a basic fact. When someone buys a product or service, they’re buying the future.

The future?

Yep!

It’s all about the future.

Think about it from the prospect’s perspective. Our product or service hasn’t been successfully delivered yet. It hasn’t worked as expected yet. It hasn’t provided the prospect with outstanding value yet. This is all future stuff. That’s what causes the persuasion gap. They simply don’t know if they’ll be delighted with buying from us in 12-weeks, 12-months or 12-years time.

To fill the persuasion gap, we need to convince them ahead of time. We need to convince them now, so they have a complete picture in their mind of a wonderful, future outcome. And to convince them, we need to confidently explain why we believe in the value of our product or service.

The more confidently we explain it, the better.

Why?

By confidently sharing the story of our product or service with prospects, and building their confidence in us, we help them fill their persuasion gap. That’s when they happily buy from us or hire us.

Photo by Cytonn Photography

Be first

By |

do it first, proactive

Here’s a powerful, proven thought experiment I often use, to help people rapidly increase the growth of their businesses. I believe you’ll find it useful, so here it is.

I’d like you to muse on the following.

  1. Think of a business, which offers a unique blend of services, unlike others in their industry.
  2. Think of a business, which dedicates time every week to improving its effectiveness in one key area.
  3. Think of a business, which is dedicated to customer retention, so it seldom loses a client or customer.
  4. Think of a business, which actively builds a valuable network of decision makers.
  5. Think of a business, which uses highly effective marketing strategies, so it attracts the best customers.

Now, take a few moments to consider the following. What will happen when that type of business moves into your area, targeting your customers and targeting your future customers.

Here’s how to protect your business, AND make a ton of extra sales along the way.

Let’s go!

Be the threat

Before something like that happens to you, it’s essential for YOU to do it first. Become that threat, to your existing competitors. Take action on every one of those 5 steps above and watch your business grow faster and stronger than ever before.

The hardest part is not applying those 5 steps. There’s lots of ways to put all 5 of them into play. By far, the hardest part is getting started as soon as possible and working on it until your business is protected.

If you’re not quite motivated enough to take action yet, this may help. It’s what we see happen every time a well-prepared competitor targets an area.

  • The competitor arrives with a well-planned strategy in place and is making waves.
  • The competitor also has total control of the time line. This gives them a massive advantage.
  • The unprepared businesses are shocked to find themselves in the middle of a commercial attack.
  • The unprepared businesses are left scrambling for ideas as they try to figure out what to do. All the while, the competitor is gaining more and more market share.

In short, don’t wait. Be the threat. Plan for massive success right now. Choose to become that proactive, uniquely valuable, constantly improving threat to your competitors.

Plus, once you get started, you’ll quickly find yourself with more confidence, energy and greater peace of mind. It’s a natural consequence of proactively planning for success.

Photo by Ant Rozetsky

Why your subscribers aren’t hiring you (and how to fix it).

By |

subscribers to clients, sell subscribers, marketing

Hannah has almost 2000 newsletter subscribers. Her open rates are always over 80%.

And yet in 5 years, she’s attracted just 4 paying clients directly from her newsletter readership.

She asked me what she was doing wrong. I suggested, with her permission, that as this is a really common problem, I’d share my answer with you.

Marketing data can mislead you

We’re now able to test and measure our digital marketing with great precision. And it’s causing hard working small business owners to make very expensive marketing mistakes.

For example. Service providers like Hannah, often look at the data for their newsletter’s open rates, clicks or shares, then write certain styles of headline or content, based on what’s popular.

That seems to make sense.

Until we look at the massive difference, between what’s popular with readers… and what generates bankable income for our business.

The key point here is that readers are mostly just that. They’re readers. They read our free stuff. And that’s it. This is especially the case when you provide free business information. The vast majority of people who subscribe have no intention of spending a dime with us. They’re looking for free information. Period.

Oh yeah. It really messes with your marketing data

That’s because the free stuff crowd are also the people most likely to open newsletters and click links.

They especially love sensational headlines. They’re attracted to them because they dabble rather than hire expert help, so their businesses are constantly struggling. Over-hyped headlines give them hope that they’re one ‘killer free idea’ away from solving their latest problem.

It’s not a coincidence that none of the 4 readers who hired Hannah directly from her newsletter, had high open rates or click rates. They almost hired her in spite of being on her list. This is because our ‘prospective client readers’ behave very, very differently from the ‘free stuff readers’.

The same approach that gets opens and clicks from freebie readers, leaves our prospective clients rolling their eyes.

Allow me to explain.

Yes, our prospective clients are certainly looking for great, useful information. And that’s a fact.

The BIG difference, is that they are also looking to provide their businesses with the resources and expertise it needs. This means when they consume our newsletters, podcasts, YouTube videos, whatever, they do so with a prospective need for our services and are building a picture of us.

And unlike the freebie crowd, they’re looking for clues.

For example.

  • They’re looking to see how reliable we are over a period of time. They want to know if we regularly show up with ideas or go missing unexpectedly for long periods.
  • They’re also looking for clues as to whether we’d work well together or not.
  • They want to see if our communication style is consistently clear and easy to understand.
  • And they want to see the depth and breadth of our knowledge over a period of time.

Plus a ton of other things they pick up on, which guides their decision to hire us.

In a nutshell: Don’t chase the subscriber data that has little, if any, real-world commercial value. Focus instead on creating for your prospects.

How to turn your customers, clients and prospects into fans

By |

Without doubt, customer experience is one of the most powerful forms of marketing. Here’s a look at why, plus some examples to help your business create an outstandingly valuable experience for your customers.

customer experience, marketing, word of mouth

Let’s go!

Isn’t it just another name for customer service?

Customer experience is a term often used incorrectly. Some use it interchangeably with customer service, but they’re very different things.

  • Customer service is about the quality of service you provide to your customers.
  • Customer experience is about the feelings your customers experience when they do business with you.

When deployed correctly, your customer experience becomes a powerful marketing asset. It’s an experience your customers will value enormously. An experience they’ll talk about and share with their friends and contacts. And an experience that will make them fiercely loyal customers.

That’s why I strongly recommend you embrace it and optimize it. To get your creative juices flowing, here are a couple of very different types of business, who provide an equally wonderful experience for their customers.

Customer experience in diverse businesses

1. A vinyl record store: When you visit a store that sells vinyl records, you notice something. Customers don’t simply walk in, ask for what they want and leave. No. It’s an experience. Customers connect with the staff and other customers, who are also fellow vinyl lovers. They talk about new releases, decks and cabling, etc. They listen to music.

It’s where they buy music and related hardware. But it’s so much more than that. It’s an enjoyable experience.

NB: Very similar examples can be found in the most talked about cycling stores, book stores and indie coffee shops, etc.

2. My dentist: Yes, it applies to every type of business, including dentists. I enjoy visiting them for my check-up. I look forward to it because it’s an excellent experience. The staff are friendly, welcoming and clearly love working there. The premises are creatively designed to be relaxing, but also to make it easy for patients to chat. The ambience is outstanding. Utterly unlike any other dental practice I’ve ever used.

I’ve lived in my area for well over 20-years and I’ve never seen that dentist advertise. Their patients do that for them, willingly, for free.

If visiting a dentist can be that great a customer experience, yours certainly can.

Your customer experience

I’ve seen amazing examples in every industry and profession. I’m certain it will work in your line of business, too.

What next?

Here’s a useful way to get started. List all the providers that you enjoy the experience of doing business with. Then look for what makes it so good. Write it down. Unpack it.

Now work on how to apply the very best from those experiences, in order to create an amazing customer experience of your own.

Photo by Count Chris 

How to thrive in uncertain times

By |

photo of man leaning on wooden table

We live in uncertain times. This means you’ll need a strategy to help you thrive over the unpredictable months ahead.

Yes, there is a lot of uncertainty right now… but it’s nothing new. Last month marked 30-years since I started my business. And I’ve helped countless businesses to prosper during all of the periods of uncertainty since then.

Today, I’m going to give you 3 proven areas to focus on, so you can adjust and improve your strategy for success in 2025.

In no particular order.

1. Risk management and risk opportunity

Uncertainty inspires savvy business owners to focus on risk in two ways.

Firstly, they do like everyone else. They make an assessment of potential risks to their business, then strengthen their resilience to those perceived risks. This includes things like ensuring they have adequate insurances in place, and protecting their finances by eliminating unnecessary expenditure and focusing on direct-value purchases.

But secondly, they realize their prospective clients or customers are also facing uncertainty, and also focused on risk and eliminating unnecessary expenditure. So, they adapt the way they currently market their products or services. They understand that their prospects now need a different marketing message, based on their new, different priorities.

2. First-mover advantage

Uncertain times always, always create new needs and new wants in the marketplace. Successful business owners look for opportunities to be the first to provide them. 

During the pandemic, I helped small business owners in multiple industries and professions, to benefit from first-mover advantage. They had a wide open marketplace who were urgently looking for exactly what my clients provided. After a couple of months, competing providers figured out what was happening and offered their own version of the product or service. But by then, my clients had enjoyed months-worth of elevated sales and tons of referrals that kept on coming.

Talk to your clients and prospects and pay close attention to what’s worrying them. This is especially the case if you notice a drop in the value, or number, of sales you’re making. And keep an extra keen eye on your competitors.

NB: You don’t need to create something that’s all-new. Originality is the existence of new ideas, not the absence of old ones.

3. It’s the perfect time to lead

In times of uncertainty, your marketplace is strongly attracted to leaders. Right now, they are waiting for a leader in your industry to come forward and provide the direction, the clarity and the confidence they eagerly want. 

How do you become that leader? Here’s some advice on leadership I recently gave to a gathering of creative professionals.

Leadership is like kindness: Kind people don’t tell us they’re kind. They demonstrate kindness. And we call them kind. Leaders don’t tell us they’re leaders. They demonstrate leadership. And we call them leaders.

People in your marketplace are faced with lots of big, hard decisions. You already have the knowledge they need. If you choose to provide it, along with the direction, clarity and confidence they need, you’ll be demonstrating leadership. You’ll become the leader they’re looking for. 

That’s a huge win for you and your business. Don’t wait to be asked to lead. Just lead. Rest assured, people will notice you. They’re already seeking you. You simply need to be where their attention is. I use a newsletter, a blog and I give talks. Choose the mix or platform that works best for you. 

I hope you’ve found these ideas useful. You don’t need to do everything. Though you can if you want to. I suggest you look for the idea that attracts you the most, and start there. The key is to get started and improve your strategy, so you thrive in the uncertainty of 2025.

Photo by Andrew Neel

Standing out: You’re the only safe choice for your prospects

By |

attraction marketing, earn attention

It’s really important that your prospective clients or customers specifically hire you or buy from you.

Allow me to explain.

It’s a fact that if your prospects go to one of your competitors, you have absolutely no way of knowing what kind of terrible experience they could receive. Anything could happen to them.

But on the other hand, you know for absolute certain what will happen when a prospect comes to you.

  • You know that you will look after them.
  • You know they will receive outstanding value.
  • You know that you will care, really care, about them and the service they receive.
  • You know that you will go the extra mile for them.

In short, if they choose you, you know they will be delighted.

A powerful business mindset

I have clients today, who first hired me over 20 years ago. This marketing mindset is what attracted them, and my total commitment to their success is what keeps them coming back. It’s the mindset behind everything I do. It’s 100% them-focused.

I recommend you do the same.

You see, I truly believe you have a professional AND moral obligation to ensure that your prospects hire YOU or buy from YOU. Because it’s the only way you can guarantee for certain that they won’t make a MASSIVE mistake.

You care passionately about your clients or customers. You go to great lengths to ensure their happiness. So, let the marketplace know. Show them that their total satisfaction is what matters to you. That it’s what drives you. That it’s what motivates you to continuously improve.

Now make that message, from that mindset, the cornerstone of all your marketing. It’s already the cornerstone of everything you do. That message is exactly what prospects want to hear… and you know that what you’re telling them is the truth.