Overwhelmingly, the BIGGEST problem that clients have? They just plain and simple need more business. They need more leads. They need MORE clients.
Your goal is to have a business. Does it matter if you are selling dirt to a farmer? Does it matter if you sell luxury cars? Probably not. You’ll sell whatever you feel you can connect with, and you’ll sell whatever you are authentic about.
When we buy items from salesman there are only two directions we feel after purchase: what a waste (buyers remorse) or what a great deal. What a waste can take different forms: perhaps we feel like we could have gotten a better deal, perhaps we felt like we were rushed but we were forced to make a quick decision, but the end result is an unhappy one. On the other foot is the great deal: we are satisfied with our purchase whether it was a car or a new pair of socks.
As a salesman, if you can offer no authenticty, almost 100% of the time your buyer is going to walk away as customer 1: feeling like the purchase experience wasn’t quite right. They walk away feeling like they got ‘sold’. People who are only after money; the unethical salesman…they make us feel that way.
But as a salesman, if you were authentic and have your customers’ and clients’ best interests at heart, then buyers walk away feeling like they received something that is going to really benefit them.
- How do I find clients and make money?
- I solve problems.
- I help my clients figure out where to find future clients.
- And when I solve their problems, they pay me money, and then they refer me to other potential clients.
People pay to have their problems solved.
Think about it: we are overweight so we pay for a diet. We are hungry, so we pay for food. When we feel something or someone can help us solve a problem, we’ll pay money to help us solve our problems.
But, hold on. Now you might be thinking: how do you keep from crowding the market and competing with everyone in town? The market is only so big. And you are right. But out of the thousands of competing businesses in my little small area, we are all successful at what we do because we are all selling in a different way. Some sell to single moms because they are single moms. Some sell to the green crowd because they are passionate about the green movement.
While the content is all a little different, the steps are all the same.
Me? My ‘people’ are other businesses that are FED UP. What if I could present a businesss that didn’t have paperwork. What if I had a business for you that got rid of overhead? What if I had a business for you that you could do from home, the coffee shop, and live the laptop lifestyle? MY business opportunity doesn’t have intentory. It doesn’t require you to fuss about employment taxes or time sheets.
YES, my business still requires you to find your own leads. That doesn’t go away. Hopefully I can help you define where you should be looking. It’s like fishing and knowing where the ‘good fishing spot’ is. I can take you there, teach you the best bait and how to hook, the best pole and time of day, but in the end, you’ll need to be the one sitting there and fishing.
- Ask yourself these questions when you are struggling with your marketing and sales:
- What are you good at? You cannot solve a problem if you are not good at the answer.
- What can you do with what you are good at?
- Who benefits from what I am good at?
- What does the market need?
Be careful asking yourself what the market needs. We might assume that the market needs ‘vitamins’ but that is a very vague answer.
People don’t need ‘vitamins’. They need what vitamins will do for them. Vitamins is the ‘answer’ to a problem. People take vitamins to have more energy, lose weight, improve performance, etc.
If you say that you are good at ‘essential oils’ and your answer is ‘to provide better quality oils’ and the market needs ‘alternative health opportunities’ you are too vague. A better answer is: I am good at essential oils, and people with headaches can benefit from essential oils, so I will provide an opportunity to help people get rid of their headaches. All of a sudden you have a path: where do I find people with headaches? Are they men or women? Are they on the internet? Can I find that at a networking event?
Be aware that some markets are too small or too cluttered to enter. Weight loss is a huge market that is hard to enter and will require lots of attention, effort, and perhaps a lot of money to advertise above other ‘noise’. Some markets are too small to provide any return customers like ‘acupuncture for horses’.
Next, ask yourself:
- Who benefits from the problem I am solving? (should be aligned with what you are good at!)
- Why am I different than my competition?
- What do I know about those who benefit from my solutions?
- What are the goals of those who are benefitting from my solution?
For example, I am different because I provide you vitamins that give you more energy, that will keep you going throughout the day, to do whatever you want to do: get more work done, lose weight, etc. People who benefit from me might be moms, dads, and mid-career professionals. (we are NOT saying that others are not interested and that you shouldn’t sell to a young person, but who is the largest group?) Moms, dads, and mid-level professionals have several goals: get it ALL done during the day including kids, work, hobbies, cooking, errands, a workout, time with family, AND time for themselves. Whew! That’s a lot!