More Clients - the Online Marketing Newsletter
for Independent Professionals
from Action Plan Marketing
and Robert MiddletonIn This Week's Issue: Do you speak about your services with hesitation? How can you gain authentic conviction?
Authentic Conviction
Have you ever found yourself talking (or writing) about your business or your services and felt that you were struggling to convince yourself that you had value to offer?
In other words, somewhere in the back of your mind you have doubts that your services will really provide the value you are promising.
And this puts you in an awkward position.
If you come off as lacking conviction, you simply won't persuade anyone. If you try to fake conviction, you risk turning people off even more; it could sound as if you're lying.
What you're aiming for is authentic conviction.
But this can be hard if you have all kinds of doubts about the ultimate value of your services. You think: "Well, it usually works, but not always," or "Most people get results but not everyone," or "I don't have a lot of experience or much of a track record yet."
You could also have a stellar track record and still hesitate about speaking with conviction: "I don't want to trick anyone into thinking I have all the answers," or "If I sound too confident, people will think I'm bragging."
TThe inevitable result of all these doubts is that you either clam up completely or end up talking about your services hesitantly (and sounding very unsure of yourself). And, of course, that's bad marketing!
The good news is that you can express authentic conviction, and you don't have to change anything about your services or your business experience to do so.
What you need to do is recognize and tap into your past and current experiences and results. You need to find the truth and express it in a very straightforward way.
For instance, if you relate to me, in detail, the story of one of your greatest successes with a client, you will automatically become more confident and enthusiastic as you speak. You don't have to put anything on.
Another way of saying this is: Get out of your mind (where all the undermining doubts reside) and get into your actual experience (where your authentic conviction resides).
You don't need to change anything to do this. It's already there.
In the Marketing Action Groups, the first exercise is to answer the following questions. This exercise is a powerful way to liberate your authentic conviction. It comes from the wonderful book, "Brag!" by Peggy Klaus.
1. What are your biggest strengths or positive characteristics? (According to you and others)2. List the ten most interesting things you have done or have experienced in your life.
3. How did you get into the business you're in now?
4. What are you passionate and excited about in your business?
5. How does your business best take advantage of your greatest skills and talents, and how are you utilizing them right now?
6. What business or work success are you most proud of having accomplished? (Current or past)
7. What new business skills have you learned in the past year?
8. What obstacles have you overcome to get where you are today, (both professionally and personally), and what essential lessons have you learned from some of your mistakes?
9. What training/education have you completed and what did you gain from those experiences?
10. What professional organizations are you associated with and in what ways? - member, board member, treasurer, etc.
11. How do you spend your time outside of work, including hobbies, interests, sports, family and volunteer activities?
12. In what way are you making a difference in people's lives?
Take some time to thoughtfully write the answers to these questions and I promise you that you'll experience more authentic conviction when you speak or write about your services.
I didn't even realize the amazing power of this exercise until the participants of the new Marketing Action Group shared the impact it had when we had our first meeting a few weeks ago.
* The More Clients Bottom Line: Authentic conviction isn't something you make up. It's already there in your past and current experiences. Tap into the power of those experiences by writing about them. (Just thinking about them doesn't really work.)
InfoGuru Manual Information Facelift
This past week I took on the long-delayed project of updating the online information about the InfoGuru Marketing Manual.
My goal was to be much clearer about the many benefits of the manual and to communicate them with as much authentic conviction as possible.
If you've read the information on the manual before but, for whatever reason, were not ready to order, I urge you to take a second look.
And make sure to also listen to Kathy Mallary's story about how the manual helped her double her business this past year.
I think this information now explains more clearly what you will gain from the manual and how it can help you attract more clients to your business. Just click below:
http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html
Marketing Action Groups
The official enrollment for the October semester of Marketing Action Groups starts in mid-August but I'm accepting applications now and putting people on the waiting list. We are almost half full already.
http://www.actionplan.com/actiongroup.html
Make Your Workshop Reservation Now
The "Crack the Marketing Code Workshops" start in just a few weeks. If you are looking for an intensive and interactive program to help you nail down your marketing message and marketing conversations, this is it. Includes a 9-week follow-up support program at no additional cost (so you put the ideas into action).
The dates for New York are Sat, July 16 for the Workshop and Sun July 17 for the Intensive. Location: Shelburne Murray Hill Hotel
http://www.actionplan.com/wkp/nywkp.htmlThe dates for London are Sat, July 23 for the Workshop and Sun July 24 for the Intensive. Location: Paddington Hilton
http://www.actionplan.com/wkp/uk05.htmlNew York is now about three weeks away, London, about four. If you plan to attend but have been sitting on the fence, please reserve your space today.
Until next week, all the best,
Robert Middleton
ACTION PLAN MARKETING
Cracking the Marketing Code for Independent Professionals~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
210 Riverside Drive
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
831-338-7790© 2005 Robert Middleton, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the More Clients eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read:
"By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit Robert's web site at http://www.actionplan.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional service businesses."
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