The Desert of Arizona
Rain 51 Degrees
I’m sure there are tons of definitions of the word “marketing.” I’ve certainly heard a lot of different ones over the years.
For me, marketing is the thing we do that makes selling obsolete.
If you do your marketing well, you have people buying because they want to, not because you “made” them.
I did a phone consultation yesterday with a service provider in the real estate industry. He’s not a Realtor, he works with developers.
We were designing a simple process for his client attraction system.
When I started in business, my thoughts about prospective clients and customers were usually something like:
“How can I convince them to buy X?”
These days, my thoughts are more like:
“What would I have to set in front of them that would make them say, ‘I want that!'”
These might sound like similar goals, but they are totally different. The primary difference is in how your prospective client is FEELING as they go through the process.
People don’t like to be manipulated. They will put up with it in certain cases, but it won’t be for long.
If you are in a business where you actually have to WORK with your clients after they become clients, then how they feel after they buy is very important. If they feel used, manipulated, or “taken for a ride,” that’s going to flavor the relationship forever.
If they walked towards you on their own steam and said, “I want that!,” that’s a beautiful thing. The fact that they chose to be there on their own flavors the entire relationship.
You can build a system that manipulates, or you can build a system that attracts. It’s up to you. Just make a decision which direction you want to go and build it.
Near the end of the consultation yesterday, my client said something like, (I’m paraphrasing), “I read your latest issue of the Incomparable Expert Field Report. If that woman you featured can create the success she’s having in the tiny world of hair stylists, then I should be able to do it in real estate.”
And that’s where it begins. It begins with belief. If you don’t believe, how can you expect anyone else to believe for you?
Not. Gonna. Happen.