Your Business is a Cereal Box: Attract, then Inform

Cereal manufacturers know how to grab your attention: bright colors,
simple and compelling messages ("Source of 5 essential nutrients"),
catchy headlines. What about the ingredient list with all the
nutritional information? That's on the side; easily found, but obviously
secondary.

The lesson: Ingredient lists don't sell cereal. Look at your business
features as you would the nutritional information on a cereal box:
people only look at it when they are already considering buying the box. It
displays important information that needs to be communicated, but it
does not answer the first questions in the client's mind.

For service providers, marketing is a challenge: you know your service
is useful and has value, but because you don't have a physical product,
the benefits may be harder to define. After all, your client will only
experience what you do once they actually hire you, which they won't
do if the benefits of using your services are not convincing.

How will you, as a service professional, deal with this fact? You must
communicate with your clients by being focused on their needs first.

Attract, then Inform
I notice that many of my clients put too much emphasis on what they do
instead of emphasizing why their audience should choose them over the
competition -- or choose them at all.

Note these claims:
- We offer a 90-day guarantee
- I have over 15 years experience in my field of expertise
- I give 10% off all first-time buyers
- We'll set you a free e-mail account when you purchase our 1-year
plan.
- I'll send you my 20-page report when you sign up for my newsletter
- My office is fully equipped to fill your needs.
- I've done research in this field and found.
- I am a member of these organizations: .

What's wrong with these claims? Absolutely nothing, if they are true.
In fact, these are features your clients should be aware of. They are
part of what you are offering (the "what" of your business), but they are
independent of your clients and their personal concerns.

Benefits are effective in attracting people because they speak to what
they can gain personally. Once you have their attention, then you can
enhance your selling proposition with features. Features can close a
sale, but they will usually not be your client's first point of entry.

Your benefits should:
- Show the value of your services,
- Tell your audience what problems you will solve, and
- Describe what they stand to gain by doing business with you

I vs. You
In the features list above, notice how many times "I", "we", "our",
"my", and "me" are used. People are naturally concerned with their own
needs first. By presenting them with a list of reasons why you are so
great, you are sending them the wrong message: that their needs are
secondary to what you think they should know. Don't make the mistake of
turning your marketing into a giant résumé of your accomplishments. Use
words like "you" and "your" more often.

Be your own client
What do your clients look for? Try a little role playing: Pretend you
are your own prospective client and objectively evaluate your
communication material.

Ask yourself: Would I buy from myself? What would keep me interested?
What am I looking for? What do I really want?

Learn from how you search the web: If you were looking for
administrative help, would you be searching Google for "15 years of experience"?
Probably not. You would be more likely to search for terms like "database
entry" or "transcription services". If that's what you look for,
chances are most of your clients will do the same. Give them what they want
and organize your information accordingly.

As you create any communication material, answer these questions:
- What is the value of my service?
- What distinct problem will my service solve?
- What will my client gain?
- What does my client stand to lose by not using my service?
- How will my client feel after buying/using my service?
- What pain will it take away?
- What goal will my client achieve?
- What desire does it fulfill?

The answer may be different for each target market, so it is important
to know who your prospective clients are before asking yourself these
questions.

Being completely objective about your own business is not easy; you've
worked hard to build it and you know it inside out. Defining your
benefits from an outside perspective can enable you to better understand how
other people view your business. Getting a view of your own "big
picture" is something a professional business coach can help you achieve.

Whether you do it alone or get outside help, it never hurts to think
about what you have to offer to potential clients. So, next time you're
at the grocery store, stop by the cereal aisle and ask yourself: "What
are MY 5 essential nutrients?"

Copyright. Cristina Favreau. All rights reserved.


Cristina Favreau specializes in helping passionate & motivated service
professionals who love what they do, but struggle with marketing &
self-promotion. Using the Get Clients NOW (TM) program, she makes it easy
to understand. Within 3 hours, she'll help you identify where you're
stuck in the marketing process & come up with an action plan to gain
immediate momentum. Join Cristina on her blog, The Savvy Entrepreneur, as
she calls things the way she sees them at http://blog.cristinafavreau.com.