How much time do you spend networking, including direct prospecting or looking for referrals? Has networking been time-consuming?
You know that you are unique in your business, but you are being seen as a commodity, just another name badge in the crowd.
Many business owners will spend significant time, money, and energy establishing their business and then hanging out a shingle to wait for “Everybody” to do business. They may join different networks and meet with hundreds of people in pursuit of that occasional prospect or referral.
What Makes You Unique?
The first step breaking out of the commodity trap is to get to the heart of your uniqueness.
Consider: Who is your favorite author? What makes them different than the hundreds of other authors in that genre?
Chances are, you picked up a book by that author, and you were hooked within a few pages. Other authors, writing similar stories, will not have that same charge for you. Your favorite author knows her audience and writes for them. Her fame and success comes with the devotion of that core audience. The fans trust that anything that she writes will be well worth the time to read, and sometimes many times over!
Who Is Your Audience?
Who is your audience, and are you getting them hooked on the first few pages of your story? You might be wasting time trying to build a fan-base that is made up of “Everybody,” rather than that core audience that is drawn to you immediately.
Your Emotionally Charged Connection™
We have an in-depth process for discovering your story, which we all your Emotionally Charged Connection™.
One of the twelve exercises is to ask yourself, “who are the clients that come most naturally to me?” Your answer to this will give you a better idea of your target market, how to identify them in a crowd, and explain that audience to your referral sources. Consider demographics, psychographics, and other factors that make up your best clients.
Also, consider some of the qualities of your least favorite clients. Is there something about them that makes them difficult for you?
Now, ask yourself “what sort of outcome do you hope that your clients receive?” As business owners, what we want for our clients is often what we want for ourselves.
Be clear on the outcomes you hope to create. That will help you align with the people who want what you have to offer that goes beyond your products and services.
That is the reason that they buy from you and makes you stand out from the herd.
