The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 67 Degrees
I’ve never been in the military, but I feel like this week I’m going to have to call on my tactical skills to plot out my clan’s movements. No, we’re not storming a bunker or anything. I’m talking about going to the grocery store.
You haven’t lived until you’ve taken six young kids into the grocery store. My wife’s away this week so I don’t have to juggle the normal 7! But still…
Sometimes you get stares, other times you are greeted with a standard set of questions or statements.
Stuff like…
“Boy you’ve got your hands full!” Wow, you are perceptive 🙂
“Are you going to have more?” None yo bidness complete stranger sir, but thanks for asking 🙂
“Are they all yours?” No, I pick up random kids on the street and take them shopping to test the limits of my patience. 🙂
You see, sticking out when you have seven kids is just a given in today’s age.
What we work so hard to do in the client world (stand out) is drop dead simple enough in other parts of life.
The good news is that you can stick out as a service provider among ALL service providers WITHOUT needing to have 30 children.
So here are some ways to achieve the same goal. The goal IS worth pursuing. You WANT to be “one of a kind” in your business. Only ONE OF A KIND service providers can’t be compared with others.
First of all, STAND FOR SOMETHING. Stand for a perspective, a way of doing things, a why of doing things that is IMPORTANT to your prospects.
I can almost guarantee you already DO stand for something. The problem is, you don’t articulate it in a way that your prospects and clients GET it and care about it.
Want to stop having downward pressure put on your fees? Then make sure your prospects can’t GET what you do or how you do it from anyone else!
Second, stop behaving like your competition. The only reason you do most of the things you do is because that’s what you see other service providers doing. Do you work in an industry where you do the work, invoice your client and then get paid?
That’s what people in JOBS do. They work, THEN they get paid.
As an independent service provider, why in your right mind would you take ALL the risk of running your own business and STILL get paid like people who are working for the man?
Get paid FIRST. You can’t even walk into McDonald’s and pay after you eat the food. If a fast food joint can do it, you can do it.
Oh, you CAN’T do that? I guarantee SOMEONE in your world is doing it. The real question is why aren’t YOU?
Want a quick tip for HOW to do this? With your next client, DO it. The way I work is to accept full fee payment in advance. That way, we get investment and money issues off the table and can focus solely on reaching the goals we’ve set for this project.” The worst they can say is NO. If you don’t have other prospects waiting in the wings, you work something out. If you DO have other prospects, you move on to them with the same new you.
Finally, if you want to stand out, then you need to have a way where your prospects can see you… again and again and again.
This is why I build a Platform (blog, newsletter, podcast, videos, email). I show up and once I’m invited in, I keep earning a place in the life of my prospect and never go away until they show me the door. And sometimes there IS no door!
If you don’t have a Platform, get one. And get one with a smart strategy behind it. Platforms aren’t about how YOU want to do marketing… they are about reverse engineering a CUSTOM DESIGNED communication channel for the emotional condition of your prospects.
Just like a smart copywriter writes a great sales promotion by deeply understanding his reader, YOU build your Platform the same way… remember, you’re building a sales promotion that never ends!
But you’re running out of time to get my help getting your Platform put together at the current fee. I have to say, I’m kick-as* good at this.