What I Know For Sure About Marketing

The conclusion I’ve come to is that I won’t do anybody any favours by ceasing to use proven marketing techniques in my newsletters simply to avoid criticism or to pander to people who have judgements on selling. Reviewing the letters that were published during my maternity leave (which I’d written in advance) I agree that they could have seemed ‘samey’ and a bit formulaic. But, (if you’ll pardon the pun) let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

As a marketer, I understand, not just through opinion, but from experience gained by testing different approaches, that asking people to buy – having a call to action – makes a huge difference to response.

HUGE.

GI – NORMOUS.

I’m assuming you subscribed to this newsletter because you want more clients. By publishing this newsletter I have an implied responsibility to share my most up to date knowledge on what works in the real world. Not the world of ‘how we’d like it to be’ where we get to stay in our comfort zones and our buttons are never pushed and we never take a risk, but my most up to date experience on what is actually getting results.

I have also discovered – and am still learning – that HOW and WHEN you ask people to buy makes a big difference too. Looking back, I think I did make a couple of mistakes with newsletters I published during the summer months.

So clearly I’m still mastering the ‘how’ and ‘when’ but one thing I have learned in the 10+ years I’ve been in business is that making offers is an essential part of successful marketing and selling. So I’m not going to stop making offers simply because a handful of people don’t like it. What I’m going to do is keep refining HOW I do it. If you stick around you’ll get to see me do things differently. If my approach seems clumsy at times, that’s because I’m still learning. I’m OK with the fact that I’ll ‘get it wrong’ from time to time. I know it might cost me a few subscribers, but that’s OK because I know that ‘getting it wrong’ is part of the process of learning how to do it right.

As a teacher and coach, I invite you to explore how all of this makes you feel. It’s clear from the comments on the blog that many people are quite comfortable with this. Others won’t be quite so comfortable. Some people will be outraged at the fact that I am charging for my marketing expertise whilst at the same time admitting that I’m still learning. But if you’re outraged that means you won’t ever give yourself permission to share your expertise and be compensated for it until some uncertain future date when you ‘know it all’. (which means never!)

If you can’t forgive me for ‘getting it wrong’ from time to time, then you’ll never allow yourself to get it wrong either. Which means you won’t take risks or try new things, which means you won’t learn.

If you expect me to have my act 100% together at all times, then you’ll place the same impossible expectation on yourself. And all of this means you’re holding yourself back, limiting your business and how much you can serve clients.

I think some of the people who are protesting are actually scared. I think part of the reason I have been pushing buttons is because I’ve been asking people to take action. I’ve been busting the illusion that you can sit in your cosy comfort zone, never take a risk and yet somehow business will be magically drawn to you. I know that people enjoyed the newsletters where I didn’t make sales offers, but I also think I indulged people in the belief that you could be successful in business without ever asking for business.

So let me clear up any confusion around this once and for all. If you want business, you have to be willing to ask for it.

Several months ago I wrote a newsletter on what it would be like to step into a store which was full of interesting things you were drawn to, yet not know what was for sale and what was simply part of the furnishings, because there were no clear price tags. However much you liked the look of what was on display, you couldn’t buy if there was no sales assistant or no cash register.

For a long time this newsletter was like that. If you aren’t generating the sales revenue you want, there’s a good chance that your business is like that too. If you don’t make it clear what’s on offer, you make it difficult, if not impossible, for people to buy.

But this is challenging for some people because it means putting yourself ‘out there’. Saying ‘OK world! This is who I am, this is what I have to offer, this is what I can do for you, this is how much it costs’.

One thing I’ve got really clear on over the past few weeks is that I am not willing to gratify people who are adopting a moral high ground when the reality is they’re just big fat scaredy cats. I think a few people are criticising me because as one reader put it ‘Many of us are afraid of presenting ourselves in the way that you are not afraid to.’ So does that mean I should go back to the old way? I don’t think so. That really would be out of integrity because it would mean that I valued ‘keeping people happy’ more than ‘telling the truth about what I know about marketing’. And in the words of Marianne Williamson, ‘There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.’

One thing I can promise you is that what you see every week in this newsletter represents my most up to date knowledge on marketing and selling today. I think some of my early subscribers were attracted to the Client Magnets approach because they interpreted what I was offering as ‘you’ll never have to sell’. What I’ve said from day one - and I still believe to be true - is ‘when you match up with the people in the world who need your help, there isn’t much selling or convincing to be done.’ But that doesn’t mean you’ll never ask your prospects to take action! The fact is, if you don’t ask for business, you won’t get it.

So now I’ve clarified where I stand on all of this, it’s time for you to choose. Maybe it IS time for me to part company with some readers. Only you can decide whether we have travelled as far together as we’re meant to, or whether we still have further to go together. I know in which direction I am heading, and that’s developing my business through helping others, and sharing what I learn as I go. If you want to accompany me on this journey, then click here to let me know you’re on board. If on the other hand, its time for our journey together to come to an end, then I sincerely bless you, thank you for being here up until now and wish you well on your way.

Until We Meet Again,

Bernadette Doyle
www.clientmagnets.com
www.howtomarketyourworkshop.com

P.S ‘What, no sales offer?’ I hear you ask. Easy tiger! I have something in the works. I’ve taken all the feedback I’ve received over the past couple of weeks, put it together with what I’m most passionate about right now, and I most definitely have something cooking! But it’s too early to go into the detail just yet. I’ll let you know more very soon, I promise.