Do You Believe in Your Message?

Everyone wants to buy and yet nobody wants to be sold to.

‘Being sold to’ implies that the buyer has lost control in the transaction and has been tricked into buying something that doesn’t serve their purposes. It implies disempowerment: ‘clever marketing’ as a trick to win our confidence and sell us short. As consumers, we are primed to be aware of and sniff out fakery and sales talk, such as ‘Zero fat’ orange juice and ‘no added sugar’ turkey breast.

All of us who are selling our products or services are also consumers. We find ourselves on both sides of the transaction; as buyers, we are wary of ‘clever marketing’ and so, as sellers, we dread the ‘M’ word (marketing) and even avoid telling people about our services for fear of being seen to be ‘selling’ and that our potential clients will be able to ‘sniff out fakery’ in us.

But what’s the real problem here? The communication or the trust?

As Steve Jobs famously said “ Often people don’t know what they want until you show that to them.” Marketing is just communication. If we don't show our clients what we have to offer, how will they know about it?

Imagine you had just lost a family member to a rare form of cancer which had been described as incurable. A few days after the funeral, you discovered that the World’s leading expert in that form of cancer not only lived in the same street, but was seeing 90% of his patients make a full recovery.

Take a moment to consider how you would feel. Disappointed? Frustrated? Angry?

With whom?

Whose responsibility is it to establish connection between the seller and the buyer?

Now, consider that you, as a 'seller', have the solution that others are looking for, but they can’t find you. Why would you not communicate a service that others are looking for?

Examine what comes up for you here.

Is it about marketing or trust?

The answers reveal a lot about what you believe about your message and your offer.

They may include one or more of the following:

-I know what I do, but I can’t express that as the solution to a pressing problem

-I know the outcome I deliver, but I can’t express the value of that outcome for my clients.

 -I can’t describe who my clients are.

-My clients don’t trust me to deliver the outcome I say I do.

As you examine what comes up, you will begin to realise that the fear of marketing is just a lack of trust - in yourself - for if you really, truly believed in the value of your services for your ideal clients, and you knew who these ideal clients were, what would stop you communicating with those clients?

Where have you lost confidence in the value you deliver?

It is this lack of confidence in yourself, and in the value of what you deliver, that causes your potential clients to 'sniff out fakery'. They may not be able to put a name to what feels 'off' but it activates the same doubts that when they detect a confidence trickster.

It's not that you harbour a deliberate intention to deceive, but that your clients sense that you don't trust yourself.

So, when did you stop trusting yourself? When did the opinions and advice and happiness of others begin to matter more to you than your own knowing and your own happiness?

Your Message Matters: You Cannot Fake Your Authentic Experience

In writing your authority book, you connect with your inner knowing.

This is the journey I invite you to take. A voyage of self-discovery to sift through all the clutter of the second-hand advice and opinions and get back to trusting your authentic self, so that you know, with absolute certainty, the value of the service you deliver.

-You take your core message and you position it as the solution to the problem that is keeping your ideal clients awake at night.

-You describe your credentials - your real, lived-through experience that demonstrates why you are the perfect person to help with this problem.

-You become the 'go-to- expert in your field, because you have defined your field.

Are you ready to reveal the value of your message?

For when you believe in your message, your clients will too!