Give That Insider Feeling

“People want to feel like they know something that others don’t. Like they’re an insider and they are privy to things that their friends are not privy to.”

~ David Deutsch

What is the Insider Feeling?

The Insider Feeling is the sense that you are part of a club – it lets people feel superior to those on the outside and gives them a sense of confidence about explaining and answering questions.

One of the things I love about magnetic (or attraction) marketing is that you end up talking to people who have?chosen?to let you into their world by expressing interest in your topic or solution.

However, before you can attract people into your circle you need two things:

• Clear knowledge of your market;
• Solid understanding of the problem you are solving.

When you know who you are talking to, it’s easy to open up a conversation not just about the the topics they care about, but about the precise aspect of those topics that will appeal to your ideal audience most.

This makes them feel as though you really understand their problem, and you really know your stuff!

I was interviewing a prospective client several weeks ago… When we started our conversation he was pre-occupied about my current familiarity (or lack thereof) with his industry and his target market. His questions revolved around how many of his competitors I knew or had worked with (he wanted the answer to be ‘several’) and how much experience I had in his type of business.

By the time we needed our meeting, he was excited about my familiarity with his engagement and marketing problem and he realised that I was going to be able to deliver on my promises even though it was not an industry in which I had recent experience. In fact, he now saw that as positive because it meant that we would not be copycatting the same old tactics that were slowly becoming less fruitful.

As we were designing the new campaign, I sat in on a meeting with his management team and listened to?him?explaining to them why their business was?not?different, and how we had looked outside the circle of competitors to develop our own offer and strategy. He was clearly enjoying being ‘the marketing insider’ in this group and I was impressed with his ability to absorb and reflect the insights I had given him.

Why Does the Insider Feeling Matter?

I’ve spent a lot of time studying and practicing what I do, and I was really good at my craft a long time before I learned how to communicate the essentials in a way that my hearers could

1. Grasp; and

• Share with others

It’s not a finished process either. There’s still plenty of room for growth, but this man demonstrated the importance of working on this.

The truth is, even if you have convinced the decision maker and the contract is a done deal, they still need to be able to talk about the project with other people. The easier you make it for them grasp the essentials and convey those essentials to the people around them, the less resistance they experience, and the more they trust you to deliver results. In addition, once they see themselves as a insider with skin in the game, they take on your ideas as their own and become your champion.

Give People the Tools to Share

There’s nothing quite so effective at undermining your confidence in a project than to have everyone you mention it to say…

“Huh? What the f*** is that? Are you crazy?”

On the other hand, when they say…

“Wow, that is just what the doctor ordered. When do we start.”

your confidence skyrockets.

That’s why giving your clients and prospects they understanding and tools they need so that it is easy for them to explain exactly why this is important and what the solution you deliver will do for them means they trust you to execute the ‘how’ without interference.

This is just as effective when the project in question is a highly technical and complex B2B project, as when it is a consumer-grade solution. If you do?your part?of the marketing and sales equation well, they’ll be able to do their part and sell it to their colleagues and if that means they need a short slide-deck to help, then give them that as well.