More Clients - the Online Marketing Newsletter
for Independent Professionals
from Action Plan Marketing
and Robert MiddletonIn This Week's Issue: Are you harnessing the four key elements of persuasion?
Four Key Elements of Persuasion
Last week I talked about persuading prospective clients with logic, evidence and authority. But clearly these are not the only three ways to persuade prospects to do business with you.
For instance, are you aware of how important an attractive presentation is to marketing success?
On the plane back from our vacation last week, my wife was reading People Magazine; it happened to be the "Best and Worst Dressed" issue.
Do you think famous people (mostly Hollywood stars) want to look bad? Of course not. Then why do so many of them dress so atrociously? It's because we tend to have very little perspective when it comes to how we appear to others.
We want to look good. We want to look attractive. We want to make a positive, professional impression. But too often we're doing just the opposite. Bad visual taste is pervasive.
Do you realize how much an unattractive presentation is impacting your marketing success?
Let's take your web site that's a little (or a lot) weak in the design department. It's not very attractive and has that "plain vanilla" look. You're actually very proud of it because you did the design. But, like the worst dressed Hollywood star, the overall impact is negative.
A potential client visits your web site, glances around for about ten or fifteen seconds, and then simply clicks off, NEVER to visit again. And you have no idea.
Yes, poor presentation really is that powerful.
The chances are good that your poorly designed web site is doing you more harm than if you didn't have a web site at all. In fact, you may decide that "Web sites just don't work to market my kind of business."
The point is, bad presentation is hurting you. And you aren't even aware of it. You're trying to persuade and you're doing just the opposite. You want to impress a potential client and, instead, they've written you off as an amateur.
Yeah, I know I'm being harsh. Reality is harsh. You are either persuading people to do business with you or you're pushing people away from doing business with you.
And an attractive presentation is only one element of persuasion. There are others that are just as important. How would you rate yourself (trying to be as objective as possible) on the following four key elements of persuasion?
Persuasion occurs when the following happen:
1. People feel they know you. This is accomplished by simple, consistent visibility. Whether this is a long-term presence at your chamber of commerce, a monthly newsletter or weekly eZine, you'll persuade more people if you're not a stranger.2. People feel good about you. Appearance and presentation dominate here. If you and your marketing materials don't come across as professional, then people simply turn away. Perhaps it's time for a complete marketing makeover.
3. People understand you. All your business communications need to be clear and explain exactly what your prospects get from working with you. Review all your marketing materials and subject them to the "What's in it for me?" test.
4. People trust you. Trust is built on reputation and results. You need to leverage that reputation and results by providing proof - generally through third parties. Case studies and testimonials are a good start. Being a nice person isn't enough.
Well, how did you rate? Are you a master persuader who consistently draws potential clients closer to you or are you unintentionally pushing business away?
Master these four elements of persuasion and I promise that you'll have more business than you can handle. Neglect them and you'll keep struggling with your marketing. It's as simple (and as hard) as that.
* The More Clients Bottom Line: Stick to the fundamentals of marketing persuasion: Familiarity, Attractiveness, Clear Benefits and Trustworthiness. You'll do a lot better than people who are betting on the latest marketing gimmick.
But how do I do it?
It's one thing telling you all of this stuff about persuasion; it's quite another thing knowing exactly how to do it and putting it into action.
That's why I wrote the InfoGuru Marketing Manual and why I continue to get emails from Manual owners every week that tell me their business has taken off by using the ideas and strategies outlined in the Manual.
Unfortunately, in this weekly eZine I can only skim the surface of the ideas contained in the Manual. If you really want to take your business to the next level, you need to get into the nitty-gritty detailed marketing action plans I've outlined there.
Learn more about it here and order online.
http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html
Can a web site really help your business?
Honestly, I feel a bit like a broken record talking about how important web sites are to your marketing. I think a lot of people don't get it because they do have a web site, but it's really not helping their business much. They don't see the possibilities.
In my current Marketing Action Group a participant simply changed the content of her site and put more emphasis on what clients got from working with her. The result - one or more new clients from her web site every week for the past several weeks.
If your site is not getting these kind of results, you have one or more of the following three problems. 1. Your site is not attractive and it's pushing people away. 2. Your site does not clearly and powerfully communicate the value of your services and 3. Not enough people are visiting your web site.
Can you imagine what might happen to your business if you improved all three of these? That's exactly what the Web Site ToolKit helps you do. Learn more at the link below.
http://www.actionplan.com/wstk.html
Free Monthly TeleClass - Monday, October 10
This month we'll be exploring "Success Factors in Marketing a Professional Service Business."
What does it really take to successfully market your professional services? Last month we talked about managing your physical space, your time, your commitments and your mind.
This month we'll explore more of the success factors in marketing yourself with an emphasis on what it takes to persuade a prospect to do business with you - and what you need to not do to push potential clients away from you.
If you are not attracting as much business as you'd like and you want to know how to attract more, please join me on this TeleClass. Reserve your space below.
http://www.actionplan.com/mtg.html
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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