Ezine Archives

"GO FURTHER FASTER"
~ success strategies for service businesses ~

October 15, 2002

Are You Irresistibly Attractive?
by Kimberly Stevens kim@askthebizcoach.com

Are you irresistibly attractive?  No, don’t send me pictures -- I’m talking about your business.

Irresistible attraction is when you meet someone, and they call you later and say that they want to hire you.  Why did they call you instead of the other guy?  What made them pick up the phone that day and call your number?  How can this happen when they only met you once for less than 5 minutes at a networking event 8 months ago?

That’s Irresistible Attraction!  You obviously made an impression by something you said, something you did, how you presented yourself, or what you left them with.  You might chalk it up to “luck” but that takes away your power to “make” it happen again in the future.

In truth, you have the power to design the impression you make on most people.  By clarifying your mission and your message, you have the opportunity to become Irresistibly Attractive to your prospects.

Read on to learn how.  And check out the free teleclasses I’m offering below.  Perhaps your dreams of phenomenal business success can start coming true in the first teleclass next Monday!

Best of Success!

Kimberly Stevens
Business Life Coach
Ask The Biz Coach, LLC
kim@askthebizcoach.com

P.S.  It struck me the other day that some readers may be concerned that I share information about my clients in the Feature Column.  I want to assure you that there is a Coach-Client Confidentiality Agreement between myself and each of my clients.  The information shared in this ezine is either an aggregation of the experiences of many, or I have changed the names and industries have been changed to protect my clients’ confidentiality.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~  FREE TELECLASSES  ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

                     FREE 3-session Coaching Group

                                        LET’S DO IT!

Do you have items on your Goal List that you’ve wanted to do for weeks, months, or years?  Launch a speaking career, be a guest on a radio show, teach a workshop, learn to play the violin?  Well, now’s the time to begin!

Sign up to participate in my “Let’s Do It” teleclass sessions on Mondays at 11:00am Eastern Standard Time on:

• October 21

• October 28

• November 4

You’ll get all the encouragement, support, brainstorming, and accountability you need to finally get started!  You can participate in just one or all three sessions.  For details, visit:

http://www.askthebizcoach.com/teleclasses.htm

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~  ANNOUNCEMENT  ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Coaching Openings for November!

What would it be like to have a professional mentor to

Want to find out?  Visit my site to learn more:

http://www.askthebizcoach.com/coaching.htm

Or schedule a no-obligation, complimentary coaching session with me, and let’s talk about it.  Call 410.721.8522 or email kim@askthebizcoach.com

Are You Irresistibly Attractive?
by Kimberly Stevens

As a reminder, your USP is what positions you in the marketplace --- are you, or what you sell, the best, the cheapest, the fastest, the easiest, the longest lasting, the most reliable, the most prestigious?  Your USP is what makes you distinct from your competitors, but it’s often the thing first-time business owners don’t fully understand.

Lara and I just started working together last month, and one of the first things we had to tackle was her USP.  As a web site designer, she is part of a well-developed marketplace often competing with several other companies for every job.

“I really don’t know why they keep picking the other guy.  It’s so frustrating after I’ve worked so hard to get in the door in the first place.  The only way I feel like I can get the job is if I underbid it, but I’ll never be able to keep my business running that way.”

“Well, you’re right,” I replied.  “You shouldn’t have to lower your prices just to get every job.  There are certainly web designers out there who are charging less than you, but there are probably an equal number of them that are charging more.  So, if we assume that there are companies hiring your higher-priced competitors, then maybe price isn’t what every prospect bases their decision on.”

“It sure has been for me.  That’s always the reason they say they didn’t choose me.  It makes me think that I’m going to have to lower my prices in order to get any work, but like I said, I’m not charging anything out of the ordinary.  My hourly rate is at the market average as far as I can tell.”

There were a couple of issues that we explored during the rest of the conversation, including her pricing, her competitors, her target market, her mission, etc.  But the one that really hit home was her USP.

Up until this point, Lara didn’t realize that she was the one forcing her prospects to make their decisions based on price. She was marketing using the Competition Model instead of the Distinction Model.

In the Competition Model, your prospects see you as offering the same service as your competitors.  In their mind, there is no delineation between what you and your competitors offer and how you offer it.  So the only decision-making factor they are left with is price.

If they think all web designers offer the same level of web site design, can complete it in the same time frame and will be equally professional, what’s left?  That’s right … price.

Think about how you make buying decisions.  If you are getting your clothes dry-cleaned every week and you think that the three local dry cleaners all do a decent job, will have your suits ready in two days, and are equally friendly or disagreeable, aren’t you going to go with the cheapest one?

But some dry cleaners pick up and deliver don’t they?  Some offer tailoring and mending services in addition to dry cleaning. Others set up shop inside large grocery stores, so you can knock out two errands in one stop.

These things make them distinct from their competitors.  There are people who will pay a little more in order to have their dry cleaning picked up.  There are others that will pay a little more to be able to drop it off and pick it up at the same time they are buying their week’s groceries.

If you don’t want to compete strictly on price, you’ve got to be DISTINCT from your competitors.  That way, your prospects have something, besides price, to base their decision on. By emphasizing that distinction in your marketing efforts, you will naturally attract those prospects who value your distinction.

And when you are Irresistibly Attractive, the sales pressure is off.  You just go out there, show them who you are and what you can do, and they come to you!

Best of Luck!

(see Disclaimer at end of ezine for confidentiality policy)

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~  NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN  ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Becoming Irresistibly Attractive?

As I said above, the key is to make you and your business DISTINCT.  How do you do that?  By creating your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

What makes you different than your competitors?  Are you faster?  Do you deliver better quality?  Are you more responsive to their needs?  Are you closer in proximity? Do you specialize in a particular industry?

Take a moment to put yourself in the mind of your prospects. If you were hiring someone to perform your kind of service, what would you want?

You can practice by thinking about your own buying decisions.  If I was hiring someone to clean my house, I would want them to:

• do an impeccable cleaning job

• show up on the scheduled day/time

• avoid breaking/taking things

• smoke outside of my house, if they smoke

• charge $100 or less

If I could find someone to do these things for $65, I would hire them.  But, if I would have to sacrifice the quality of their work or their reliability in order to pay the lower price, I would go with someone else.  It’s important to me to have a clean house and to know that I can count on that person to show up on Thursdays before I have guests arrive on Friday.

1. make a list of the things you would look for if you were a prospect hiring someone to do your service

2. put that list in priority order

3. gather all of your sales materials together (e.g. printout of web site, business cards, letterhead, brochures, email signature lines, proposal, trade show displays, newsletter, sales letter, direct mailers, cold calling script, elevator speech, etc.)

4. set aside 1-2 hours to review all of your materials to see what message you are sending to your prospects

5. revise your materials as needed

When you review your mat

Do your sales materials/tools really bring your message home? Are your top 2 distinctions clearly emphasized in your materials?  Are there things you need to add, omit, or revise in order to create your distinct impression on your prospects?

Once you are communicating a very specific and consistent message about yourself and your business, you will find that you no longer have to sell.  Business comes to you – and it’s the kind of work you like that pays you what you deserve.

Good Luck!

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~  TELL A FRIEND  ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Thanks for your support!

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~  ASK THE COACH  ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

How do you make yourself Irresistibly Attractive?  Email me at:

kim@askthebizcoach.com

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~  DISCLAIMER  ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The client names in the Feature Column have been changed to preserve the Coach-Client Confidentiality Agreement.  In some cases, the scenario is not that of one client but is representative of the experiences of the many business owners with whom I have worked.