In a Smart Business Owners call-in session, the central topic was marketing. From marketing, one of the essential things you should know is that word of mouth is organic, as it is the best way to grow a business.
Marketing is really about finding out who your target customer is—in other words, it’s finding out who your perfect customer is. And then what do you have to do to get noticed?
You must understand that everything about marketing is about attention; if you don’t get enough attention, you won’t get enough money to flow to you. So, there are many limitations that a person has to be aware of when it comes to marketing; there are many things that I can do and that you can do, and most people can do. But much of your marketing has to be tested before you can get the public to see it. And thus, really understand who your customer is, what interests them, and what will catch their attention.
How did I get attention?
I remember Shawn in December 2012; he referred me to a guy who owned a mortgage company and was the sales manager. He wanted me to come in and talk freely in front of the room, and I had been doing all this talking, going in and doing. I was trained by Eric Law and introduced by Tony Robbins, whom Jim Rohn coached. There is a speech model called Intro Results.
So I said, Hey, I want to come out and talk to you in front of the room. On top of that, I was referred. And he says to me: Sure, send me some information. So I sent him some information and received no response; I followed up with him, nothing for them, an email, nothing, text message, nothing. Forty-nine follow-ups later, and 14 months later, I had to sit back and learn.
This experience taught me one of the best marketing lessons I have ever learned; it got me thinking: What is this guy interested in? Why am I not getting this guy’s attention? And I thought, well, he has a weekly sales meeting, and he’s setting the same price. And his staff is probably insane with boredom.
What can I give this guy that can help him and get his attention than me? Oh wait, you know what? I don’t have any YouTube videos. I have nothing to show that I am a speaker. I remember not realizing then that you could get a tripod and put your camera on it.
It took me 12 takes because I didn’t even know how to edit videos. So I sent it to him. In an email, I said: Hey, I hope this helps you with your subsequent sales. If you still want me to come in and speak on behalf of your team, let me know.
Forty-five minutes later, he says, when can you come in? And since then, when I talk to his people, he makes about $ 6 or $ 7,000 for talking for 45 minutes. That’s when I understood that I didn’t have any marketing if I couldn’t get my client’s attention.
Another thought on marketing
This is a story that I would probably tell my client one-on-one. I just moved out of this place. A seven-and-a-half-acre site has a pond, which reminds me of these two children playing: David and Preston. They have known each other since they were four years old; now, they are 14 but nine years old. Man, we went up to this place called High Hill Ranch, and they have a pond like this: a lot of fish.
They have a shack where you rent the fishing rod, and catfish are there. And you strip, and you have the red, white bobber. You throw it in the pond, and you’re waiting fine, so I go up there and get the polls, and the lady says, what kind of bait do you want? And she says? Hot dog salami and worms. I’m doing fine, fish, buddy. I mean, I know what the fish that give me worms want. So grab the worms, put them on the hooks, and throw them there; we’re waiting.
Next, you know that another father and son go to the hut to get his stick to go to the other side of the pond, and they throw it into the pond. About five minutes later, they catch fish, unlike the fish on the other side of the pond. So I’m really at the polls and chuckling as much as possible, and we’re waiting. The next thing you know, they catch another fish and the third fish. And then, the parent realizes that this is not a catch-and-release pond.
We must get these fish there and pay $ 14.99 a pound for catfish. So while they’re making the trip over there, I come running up and say, Hey now, what do you give the man? What are you using as bait? To which he replies, we are using the hot dogs. I’m like, shit, give me the hot dogs.
So I go back and squeeze his presses up, and David is in first. I put the hot dog in there, toss him, and drill presses or throw him before he can pull the press out and take it out. David gets a fish.
I learned one of the best marketing lessons I have ever known. And that is, I assumed those fish were interested in worms. And it wasn’t until I asked someone that I found out what they were interested in, what it was, what the sausages were, the moment I switched the bait from the hook to the links, I got my fish.
It is the same in business. I can’t tell you how many times I take a client they’re spending thousands of dollars on SEO or Google ads or this person or that person, and they get nothing in return. And because they have not done a thing that you will be able to do during the following week. And it won’t cost you a penny. It will cost you maybe half an hour of your time.
That’s what you need to do the best you can: your favorite customers’ silly questions. Okay, they will tell you what bait to use to go out and catch more fish like them.
This is what you should do. You look at your existing customer list. And you say: who is on this list? I love it. Am I worried? Do you know when I talk to them? When do I interact with them?
So we have to figure out what bait will work right now in this economy today, not what worked a year ago, before COVID, or any of those things. What is going to work right now? And that is what we will do.