You're Freakin' Them Out! (How to Stop Losing Potential Clients) - Christine Kane

When you talk to a potential client, how easy is it to just use the familiar lingo of your trade?

SO easy, right?

Healers start in with chakras. Branding experts yammer about brand attributes. And, you accountants”¦we won’t even go there.

Your current clients know this lingo. They’re hip to it. They’re already working with you.

But let’s say you’re trying to get new clients in the door. These are the folks who have never worked with you. They’ve never experienced you.

They don’t know what a chakra is.

Or a brand promise.

They don’t know the difference between a W-9 and WD-40.

All they know is one thing:

“Here’s where it hurts.”

This is the place where your prospect “enters the ocean.”

(Yes, that’s a metaphor. Let me “˜splain.)

“The Ocean” is the service, help, and transformation you provide. It is huge. And your prospect is just beginning to wade in.

But you?

You’re way out deep in the ocean. You with your expertise. You with your auras, audits, assets, a1c, entities and other industry jargon.

And you’re so used to spewing this language forth, that you lose your prospects.

Because they don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.

They’re at the edge of the ocean, not even sure if they want to go in.

And you’re out there acting like it’s no big deal.

You think your job is to make them understand you.

But it isn’t.

Your job is to make them feel understood.

So, as a leader and marketer, here’s what you need to do”¦

You need to swim toward the shore. And you need to go get them. And you need to stand there with them and talk with them about how their hip hurts or their stomach is bloated or their partner dumped them or they’ve lost a lot of money this year, or how much they hate spreadsheets.

You need to let them enter the ocean from where they are. Not from where you are.

And this is why your content, your conversations and your clarity are so crucial.

It’s why I devote the first modules of my Uplevel Your Businessâ„¢ program to provide clarity about ideal clients and about their needs. (Not yours). Because you need to talk with them about their stuff. (Not yours.)

This doesn’t mean you have to “dumbify” your content. (God, I hate that word.) It just means you have to communicate the challenges with clarity and insight.

For instance, I still perpetually teach my business owner clients how to manage their power when they hit a major wall and can’t find their way out of their emotional response.

I’ve taught about managing power as a business owner for years and years. And yet, for so many people, it’s their first time hearing any of it. And it’s new. If I move too fast, they’ll feel lost, and they’ll run to someone else who can spell it out more clearly.

This is service.

Your content – whether in a program or on your blog or in a conversation – has to break things down to the most basic. This is hard on your crazy mind that doesn’t stop looking for bright shiny objects to relieve it from the stuff it already knows.

But the stuff you already know is very interesting to your ideal client. Get simple. Get basic. Stop making everything so complex.

More than ever, your peeps need to be seen and understood.

12 COMMENTS ADD A COMMENT
  • Mair

    Very! Very! well said! Love your analogy! I’m all about simple and this was just the perfect reminder. Thank you!

  • Abdul Hameed

    Hi Christine thank you for your email, I appreciate your help, the contents is always my center point I never for get, because I always draw my minded readpam befor any things I do ( you got to the point ) thank you so much.

    Love
    Abdul Hameed

  • Jennifer Keller

    I can see myself in the “out in the ocean” end of this, but recently I’ve also been the person standing on the shore, and, wow, is that a scary place!

    I would like to add that in addition to simplifying content, simplifying the process of working with you is also a great thing, especially when it’s something a potential client has never done before. Complicated content might challenge them, but a complicated process is just as likely to scare them off.

  • Wendy Pitts Reeves

    When I gave a talk to a group of entrepreneurs in Ireland recently, I focused on just 3 critical steps out of my complete model for success, and the buzz in the room was palpable. When I asked them at the end what they were taking away from the talk, the first fellow to respond gave my model right back to me. They got it – because I got THEM.

    I’ve been working on this stuff for years, and have only recently finally (!) been able to reach the kind of simplicity I need on MY end to make that happen. Thanks, Christine, for the reminder of how important this is.

  • Lila

    You have touched my weak spot: “Your content has to break things down to the most basic. This is hard on your crazy mind that doesn’t stop looking for bright shiny objects to relieve it from the stuff it already knows.”

    Many thanks! I was aware of this, but you gave me the ‘why’.

  • Debbie

    You are so right. We get do comfortable with where we are, and because we share all the time on social media, it can feel like everyone we touch, is growing right along with us. We feel like they have read every single post, and we are SO comfortable, we don’t think twice that they may not be comprehending.
    I’ve been simplifying since I’ve had friends say, I love all of your posts, but I STILL don’t know what you Do!
    That was an eye opener!
    Thank you for sharing.

    Debbie
    http://Www.readytoexhale.com

  • Julie

    This is so true and such a great reminder. I often forget to repeat content for those who have never seen it or break it down in another way.

  • Micrae

    So glad you talked about this topic. Us business owners need to hear this in spades. Thanks for explaining it so well. You rock!

  • Julia Thie

    Oh wait, let me take off my scuba gear…
    I agree with this so much! I’m such a deep thinker I’ve had to work for years to learn how to be clear. Allowing my people to feel listened too and “got”.
    I want it for myself too (so thank you for doing that for me)!

  • Roxane Lessa

    Right on! I need to remember this all the time every time I create course content for my in person and online classes. I so appreciate how you met me at the shore 3 years ago and helped me out into the ocean to develop my teaching business!

  • Brenda Jean

    This is great–thank you. I’m beginning to write again, have a lot to say, and this advice is extremely helpful.

  • Giovanna

    Absolutely true!! As a teacher I see that happening all the time and as a scholar I am always in danger to be inflicting that distance onto my peeps. Thanks for all these reminders Christine!