How do you know what to say to your prospect to gain their attention?
Listening: It’s a lost art.
We spend our days looking for ways to get our marketing message heard above all of the other voices out there. According to some studies, the average person is exposed to between 3,000 and 20,000 marketing messages each day, and the average adult receives 147 emails each day. In that kind of crowd, wouldn’t it be fantastic if your message could stand out, capture attention, and elicit a response from your prospect?
Of course it would! But how do you make that happen?
Start with examining just who your customer is. Take a good hard look at who you are already serving. How did you acquire them as a customer? What is their age range, income level, location, etc.? These are bits of data every business should track.
Now, let’s add a layer. Which of your clients do you love to serve? Which ones are so great to work with that you just might be willing to work with them even without pay? These are your Ideal Clients, your Beloved Clients, the clients you dream of having hundreds or thousands of. These clients make owning a business fun. Who are yours?
Once you know who they are, go have a conversation with them.
Ask them questions: What do they like? What do they dislike? What products or services do they invest in? Which of your offerings do they like best? What is their biggest problem? (Think about how you can solve it inside of your business.) Where do they hang out? What are their hobbies? What are their hopes, dreams, and aspirations?
Then be quiet and listen.
I know! It’s so very hard to turn our brains off, just be in the moment and listen. We constantly play the “what do I say if they say __(fill in the blank)__” game. We formulate responses before we have even heard the question, and we want to be heard so badly that we forget our customers want us to listen to them, too.
But, guess what: If you listen to their responses to your questions, truly listen, your customers will give you invaluable knowledge and feedback. And, if you really listen closely, they will actually give you the words to use in your marketing…words that will gain attention and motivate action in others who are like them. This kind of knowledge makes it easy to separate your message from your competitors.
So, I challenge you to revive the lost art of listening…and being thoughtful with your responses when talking with your Beloved Clients. This is not a time to be selling or marketing. This is research. Treat it as such, and learn.
A blog article from Lisa Petree
