Imagine a 5 year old boy. Let’s call him Tom.

Tom needs looking after as his mum has to work and you have agreed to help out for a couple of hours after school.

Now, Tom is a typical 5 year old boy. He wants to play football.  He wants to go to the park and climb up trees.  He has been at school all day and yet as enough energy to keep Greater London in power for the month of July.

You, on the other hand, are tired from a hard day of endless phone calls and email bashing.  You would just love to sit down and watch the latest kids DVD together.  After all it looks like rain and you don’t fancy getting wet.

What do you do?  Do you spend the next ten minutes explaining that the wind is picking up and the way that the cumulus nimbus clouds that are forming means that they is a definite probability of heavy precipitation?

Or do you start selling the DVD option?

Whether you have children of your own or not, common sense tells you that when communicating with a 5 year old you need to use simple language and be very clear in your requests.

And this is why I like to compare communicating with potential clients with communicating with children.

If a 5 year old can not grasp the concept of what your business is all about, then there is every chance that your potential client, who knows nothing about you and your business, will not either.

Here are my top tips for treating your clients like children.

1.  Avoid all jargon. There is a big danger that when we live and breathe our businesses, we tend to adopt the language and abbreviations of that business.  This is especially so for technically based businesses and NLP practitioners, for example.

Would you know what web-based CRM interface actually is, let alone know how it could benefit your business?  And how on earth does the average person on the street know how to define neuro-linguistic programming? Or life coaching for that matter?

A quick note on abbreviations – it is just plain rude to assume that your potential customers know what TLA’s are. (answer at the bottom of the article to find out what it means!!)

2.  Use simple language. Using the best part of a Thesaurus on your website home page can look exceptionally pretentious, at the best of times. At worst, if your reader has to pick up a dictionary to understand what you have written, no relationship is going to be built, is it?

3.  Never patronise. Go too simple with your language and your potential customer may take offence to be treated as someone who is one sandwich short of a picnic.  Coming back to Tom – he would certainly take offence to being talked down to and may reward you with a kick in the shins for be treated like a baby!

4.  Avoid using negative language. Tom is carrying a glass of milk across the room and you say to him “Don’t drop the glass”.  What do you think will happen?  Yes, there is every chance that Tom will drop the glass.  Our brains can’t process negatives so we just leave them out.

Think of commonly used phrases such as “Don’t Delay.  Don’t miss out on this special offer”.  Yes, that’s right.  There is a higher chance that your potential client will delay. Far better to use “Book Now.  Reserve your copy today.”

5.  Be very clear in your requests. You would never take Tom to a busy road and just leave him to cross by himself.  You couldn’t afford to take the risk of assuming that he may be street savvy enough to look for cars before crossing.

So, when communicating with your potential customers, whether it is a personal email, an advert or a direct mailing, always be specific with your call to action.

“Call me on 001 234 5678 before Friday at 12 noon if you would like to benefit from this 20% discount”

“Email offer@product.com by the end of the day to reserve your place.”

Never assume your potential customer is going to know what to do.  Be specific and clear and your customer will thank you for making it so easy for them.

5.  Reward with lots of praise and sweets. OK, Tom may be motivated by Smarties and your potential clients may not be.  But use the same principles.  Reward your customers with a simple “Thank you” or “I really appreciate your business” is just as valuable to building relations as continuing discount vouchers and referral rewards.

P.S.  TLA’s is short for Three Letter Acronyms.  Um, annoying isn’t it :0)

Advertising is a funny old game.  We live in a society that is bombarding us with adverts every minute of every day.

Some advertising is useful and informative.  Some advertising has even become part of our culture and language – think of the Heineken “Refreshing The Parts” campaign and Martini “Anywhere, Anytime, Any Place” (apologies for showing my age!).

But on the whole most advertising is useless and a complete waste of time and money for most of you reading this article.

Many business owners get confused with the terms “advertising” and “marketing”.  It is easy to believe that spending money on advertising is marketing your business.

I still remember the Business Link advisor who asked me the question “so, how are going to advertise your business?”

The question should have been “How are going to market your business?” as advertising is only one small part of an enormous marketing mix that you can choose from.

You will often hear me say that I don’t believe advertising works for the majority of small businesses. But as many of you see your competitors advertising, it is eaasy to feel you must be seen alongside them in the local newspaper or business directory.

I know I break the mould when I say “Don’t advertise.  Leave advertising to the likes of Coca-Cola and Persil Automatic. Spend your money on other marketing activities.”

And this not because I am anti-advertising.  It is because most adverts that many of you use just don’t work.

Poor copy writing, no call to action and bad designs are all reasons for an advert to fail.  As well as poor positioning and bad choice of publication.

So, if you are certain that advertising is a course of action you want to take then I would like to share with you my secret to successful advertising.

That secret is to advertise your free give away.

“You What?” I hear you cry.

Yes, advertise your free give away!

And this is especially so if you are selling a service such as interior design, beauty treatments, life coaching, nutritional therapy or corporate training.

A customer making a purchase cold from a single advert is highly unlikely.

People buy from people they like, trust and feel comfortable with – and this is why a bulk standard “buy me” advert fails time and time again.

Why does advertising your free give away work?

1. People like getting something for nothing so are more likely to contact you
2. Getting someone to contact you is the most valuable first step to building a relationship with this person
3. You are always asking for the person’s contact details for example email address to send them the report, address to send them the discount voucher, phone number to arrange that consultation

Building your own database is the foundation to your business success.  And far better to advertise a quality, free give away to encourage potential customers to contact you and give you their contact details, then try and sell them something when they know nothing about you.

The next step is to build a relationship with your potential customers and the rest is easy ;o)

Quick Tip: depending on your give-away, you may attract a percentage of “freebie-hunters”.  Make sure you automate this give-away by using web based opt-in forms and autoresponders where ever you can and this will take up less of your time to deliver what it is you are offering.

Several months a go I wanted to order a bunch of flowers to be delivered to my sister-in-law in Brighton.  Wanting to find a local florist, I went to Google and searched for “florist in Brighton”.  The first florist I called very politely told me to look at their website and choose one of the bouquets listed there.

OK, I could have done this.  But I was actually in a bit of a rush and wanted to speak to a human being and do an order over the phone.

The second florist on the list was completely different.  Explaining again that I was looking for flowers for my sister-in-law who had just had a baby girl, rather than direct me to her website as the last business had done, she began to ask me questions.

“What’s your budget?”  “Did you have any particular flowers in mind?”  And then she started making suggestions.  She used terms such as “vivid pinks that clash beautifullly with lime green” and “scented without being over powering, which may be a bit much for a new mum”.  She created such a great picture of what it was I wanted that she had a sale from me, right there and then.

Using the 5 senses in your marketing is what makes the difference between a customer going away to make a decision (and probably never coming back) and being drawn in and stopping them in the tracks to make a purchase.  Here’s how to include some or all of the 5 senses in your marketing right now:

Sight – a picture is worth a thousand words so getting the right image to represent your product is essential. Don’t waste this opportunity with poor product photography or downloading an image that has been used a hundred times before.

Sound – using video in websites has been around for a couple of years now, but it’s becoming simpler and cheaper to include a well produced video to engage with your audience.  Jing is a great little piece of kit to get started with – use it to record yourself demonstrating a product or website online.

Taste and Smell – OK so perhaps technology is a little way off yet to give your clients smellivision, but tastes and smells can all be described.  If you sell a product or service that uses these senses, make sure you include a description of them in your sales pages.

Feel – as many businesses choose to market themselves on line via emails and websites, this important sense doesn’t get much of a look in.  Remember your leaflets and business cards – quality, thick card does make a difference!  Direct mailing may be more expensive but don’t ignore it because of the cost.  Your target client may well be more engaged with a glossy brochure or sample product coming through the post.

Every business should have a website, right?

True.  Every business, big or small, should have some sort of web presence.  The internet is part of every day life and, as you don’t need thousands of pounds to get a business online now, there really is little excuse for a business not to a have a website created at some point.

But my question to you today is whether your website is a help or a hindrance?

Just because you’re online, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s doing anything for you.  And worse case scenario is that your website could actually be working against you.

Let’s look at how the average person uses the web.  Did you know that the average time it takes for someone to “read” a website is 3 seconds?

Think back to the last time you used Google to find something.  You may have been looking for the best place to buy toner cartridges for your printer. It could have been that you were trying to find a villa or cottage to rent for your holiday this summer.

Do you remember how long you took to make the decision to hit that back button and go on to the next website on the search results listings?  I am pretty sure it took you less than that average of 3 seconds on the websites that didn’t grab you.

How long would it take for a visitor landing on your home page to make a decision to stay or go?  1 minute?  10 seconds?  Or less than the average 3 seconds?

And imagine if they were on hold to their bank at the time.  Or waiting for a file to download on to their laptop, whilst they click through to your website.  How is your website grabbing their attention?

It could be that your website is being more of a hindrance, than a help!

Here are some of the common “hindrances” that I see every day on websites that don’t generate any leads or new clients for a business.

1. A website that talks about the company and not the potential customer. Look at your home page and for every “We”, “I” and your company name, exchange it for the words “You”, “You” and “You”.  People are only interested in themselves when they are looking for someone to help them. In a previous copy writing article, you can see why it’s all very well explaining you are the market leaders in what you do, but how is that going to benefit your clients?

2. A website that is so obviously “home-made”. You may have gone on a HTML programming course to save yourself a few pennies.  You may have even used your next door neighbour’s son who is studying IT at Uni.  But saving money on your website to end up with a site that doesn’t work in a particular browser or doesn’t display on a mobile phone will only push clients away.  There is really little excuse not to have a nicely designed website. Using blog platforms such as wordpress.org, for example, mean that you can have a simple, professional looking site that works, set up for as little as £500.

3. A website that has a fussy design, clashing colours and is more concerned with how pretty or trendy it looks.  Internet users want to find their information quickly, rather than hunt for it in cleverly worded menus or images.  Flash introductions just annoy – remember the 3 second time limit.  Unless your clients expect to watch a dancing cartoon or slideshow, they will be gone before it’s finished playing!

4.  A website with no obvious purpose. Static brochure style websites just don’t “do” anything.  They may look pretty and give lots of information, but what is that website visitor meant to do?  Picking up the phone and making an enquiry may just be too big a leap to make.  They will more than likely leave and move on to the next site on their search lists.

This last point has to be the one that I rant about the most.  A website with no obvious purpose is a waste of time.  It just floats around in hyperspace, gathering pixel dust and being ignored by by anyone who happens to stumble upon it.

For the majority of small businesses, the most effective purpose to give your website is to help build a database of potential customers.

The competition to be found through search engines is so fierce, you can’t afford to trust that your website visitors will bookmark your site and come back another day.  They will have found what they are looking for by then and you’ll have lost a client.

Having a website whose primary purpose is to invite visitors to leave their name and email address has been proved to be one of the most successful online marketing strategies to have for the majority of small businesses.

It creates the opportunity for you to build a relationship with that visitor so, over time, they trust you enough to become a paying customer.

How do you do this?  Capturing names and email addresses by offering something in return is something so simple and yet so many small business owners don’t do this.  And the easiest way of offering something in return is to offer a free newsletter, a free e-course or free report.  The options available to you are limitless.

You may be keen to start your own email newsletter but feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information out there.  I know I get enough emails asking me about them so if you haven’t started one or in the early stages of creating a database, then do check out my “How To Do Email Newsletters” programme starting this month.

In the meanwhile, start by checking out your website right now.  Ask yourself – is yours a help or a hindrance?

And what are you going to do about it?

I am sure you all know that testimonials are a great addition to your website, leaflets and brochures.  Rather than bleating on about how good you are, let your clients tell it in their own words.

They work because its “social proof”.  The same way that 8 out 10 cats prefer Whiskers, your potential clients want evidence on why they should spend money with you.

But instead of getting evidence, most small business owners end up with pretty poor excuses for a testimonial.

“Steve was a really wonderful trainer.”

“We had such fun working together.”

“The widget is lovely to use and I wholeheartedly recommend it.”

Lovely words, but as testimonials they absolutely stink!

The demand for personal recommendations is getting higher and higher every year.  And with wishy-washy testimonials like these are, quite frankly, a waste of space.

A wasted opportunity!

For a testimonial to work effectively for you, it has to explain the benefits of what you deliver.  Here’s an example of one my testimonials that I have displayed on my business coaching page, kindly given by Lisa Turner from Pyscademy last year.

“I started working with Karen because although all the bits of my business were working they weren’t really integrated with each other. Karen helped me get some real clarity about the processes and steps I needed to make to achieve my goals.

After only a single session I achieved my first two goals – to start running teleseminars and to get bookings for an upcoming course. With Karen’s support and advice, I set up and ran my first ever teleseminar and as a direct result got bookings on an upcoming course. I am absolutely delighted with the result and how easy it was with Karen’s help.”

Why does this testimonial work harder?  Let’s break down the 3 key questions that were answered:

What was life like before working with me? Bits of Lisa’s business were working, but they weren’t integrated.  If I really wanted to push this testimonial further, I would have probably asked Lisa how that felt and added that, too.  Would it have been frustrating?  How much time did Lisa waste?  This helps a potential client to relate to the story being told.  “That’s just like me” you want them to say.

What process did we follow? I helped Lisa get clarity and we figured out some steps to take.

What were the results? Lisa got her teleseminars up and running, plus got clients booking on her course as a direct result of running her teleseminar.  And the whole process was “easy”.  Most of my clients come to me because they struggle to attract the right clients so this testimonial highlights that I can solve this problem, as well as make everything easy at the same time.

Make sure your testimonials provide the answers to these 3 key questions and your testimonial will speak volumes when it comes to evidence.

One final tip – don’t expect your clients to know this.  Most clients find it very hard to know what to write when asked for a testimonial.  This is why most of you end up with one of the “really lovely person” quotes.

Ask them these questions on the phone or in person, write down the answers and ask them if you could use these words as a testimonial.  Present them with this pre-prepared testimonial based on the exact phrases they said to you, and you’ll get testimonials working harder for you.

Footnote: For businesses trading in the States, you may also be interested to read this blog post here from Joe Comm who commented on the new rules & regs brought in by the FTC last year.   Evidence is important, but do make sure you know the laws of the country you trade in.  Overcooking is not only poor practice – it can be illegal!

Do people judge a book by its cover?

Most of us have been taught to never pre-judge people and to always look beyond someone’s appearance before casting an opinion.  And yes, in society this is certainly how I like to be treated.

But, in business, we often find ourselves making snap decisions.

You meet a stranger at a networking event and BAM – you just can’t help it.  The way they shook hands with you, the way they did (or didn’t) look you in the eye and the way they said their name – all these things are immediately processed and an instant judgement is made on whether you want to stick around and carry on the conversation.

Statistics say that, on average, what you actually say contributes just 7% to how someone perceives you.  38% comes from the way you say your words and a massive 55% is affected by your appearance.

Scary isn’t it?

When we start out in business, we often worry so much about what we actually say when go out and network and present ourselves to prospective clients.  But from these statistics (and just look at how you react to people you meet in business for the first time) what we actually say slips rapidly down the priority list.

The way you say things and the way you present yourself, both in terms of clothing and body language, are incredibly important factors to how your personal brand is interpreted.

And your personal brand is an incredibly important factor when it comes to attracting clients.

Imagine two nutritional therapists standing up to speak at a networking event.  They both offer the same elevator speech in that they work with clients on a 1-2-1 basis to help them lose weight and feel healthier.

One nutritional therapist is nicely slim (not lollipop-model!), well groomed and has a clear complexion.  The other seems to be wearing ill-fitting trousers (two sizes too small), has a huge spot in the middle of her forehead and looks slightly out-of-breath having walked up two flights of stairs.

OK, I’m being a little extreme to make my point here but Which one are you going to “judge” to be the “better” nutritional therapist?

So what’s your book cover saying to people?

What is your appearance, your body language and your speech patterns saying about your business?

Understanding your personal brand and identifying how people perceive you and your business, can be daunting.  But it’s got to be done! Take time out to check yourself out in the mirror before leaving for your next networking event.

If you work from home, it’s easy not see any one for several days. Especially if you work with clients by email or phone.

There is no coffee room talk or quick catch-ups by the photocopying machine that you used to have in PAYE world.  And sometimes it can feel just darn lonely being your own boss.

So what happens to your motivation when you have a bad day?

We all get them, don’t we?  A client who cancels a meeting at the last minute.  5 rejections on your follow up phone calls, one after another.  A laptop that decides to stop working when you have a proposal that needs doing.

If you are lucky enough to have a supportive partner or a good friend who understands what it is you are trying to achieve, then it makes it easier.  But many of you don’t.  There may even be people around you who don’t really believe that you will succeed in your plans and possibly don’t even want you to, for what ever reason.

This is why it is good to have a couple of simple strategies up your sleeve that will allow you to pick yourself after a bad day and get back on the straight and narrow.  Here are some of my favourites:

Know when to stop. One bad thing seems to attract another and when you are feeling this way, it is far better to move away from what you are doing.  Stop forcing yourself to follow up those phone calls, for example, when you are beginning to believe that you are only going to get “no’s”.  Because that is exactly what you will get at that time.

Take a break. Go out for a walk, tweet away on Twitter, do some household chores, go out and buy a newspaper – it doesn’t really matter what it is a long as you are able to distance yourself from the stuff that doesn’t seem to be going your way.

Have a business buddy. A friend may not understand what you are going through if you phone up for a moan (and can quite often encourage you to moan even more if they are being sympathetic to your needs!)  Having one or two business buddies – people you feel you can be honest with and yet can encourage each other to move forward with projects and ideas – can be a lifesaver on a bad day.  Having someone who understands but keeps you on track with a little kick on your behind!

Play your favourite tune. Cheesey I know, but playing your favourite upbeat music and having a little dance around the office can do wonders for a mind shift. No one is watching after all!

Make a daily list of achievements.  A great habit to get in to is to write down the 3 things you have been most proud of each day in a journal, diary or on your PC.  It could be as amazing as winning a huge contract or as small as making a call to someone you have been putting off for weeks.  Whenever you feel like the business is against you, read through your lists and realise how much you have achieved already.

Remember not every day is going to be a great day.  There will be days that clients cancel, work goes wrong.  You can’t control other people’s (and technology!) actions.  But the one thing you can control is the way you deal with those actions when they happen.

What do you do to get over your crap days?

Update – have had some great suggestions via Twitter so thought I’d share a few here.

As you may have realised, the UK is in the middle of an election.  I know, I know! You don’t need reminding, but I did want to put this situation in to context.

We had a knock on the door the other day and it was my neighbour canvassing for our local Conservative MP.  We had a quick chat and we shared a few of our thoughts on the Live Leaders Debate programme.

And then she said something really interesting.

“You would have thought with all this internet technology, I wouldn’t have to do all this door knocking.  It would be so much easier to do this canvassing through an online form.”

Now this lady was in her 60’s so not your typical web-tech geek (unlike me!!) so suggesting that the canvassing she was doing was easier online was a surprise to me.

Yes, it may be easier to send out emails asking people to go to a website where they could register their support.  And yes, it is probably a great way of adding to marketing campaign of a MP (or any other product or service).  But to suggest the face-to-face door knocking is replaced would be a poor change in marketing strategy.

Using email and website can be easier.  And it can certainly be cheaper than printing, postage and spending time getting out and about.  Helping small business owners use web-tech tools effectively in their business is something I do all the time.

But many small business owners go online as a replacement rather than an addition to a marketing strategy.  They replace the face-to-face networking with Facebook and Twitter.  They stop picking up the phone and send more emails instead.

The ease of the internet does indeed increase your opportunities and help raise your brand awareness.  But before you take the easy way, just make sure it is the most effective way.  Because, much as I love the web, nothing beats a bit of face-to-face when winning votes – and business!

When a few long term clients begin to “evaluate” their current contracts, it is easy to feel a sense of anxiety.  Perhaps your motivation and confidence is starting to wane as one after another potential lead dries up.

When business is good, you are king of the hill.  But when business gest tough, it is easy to start panicking.

And when this panic starts to filter in to your marketing, the lack of business leads only gets worse.

Why?  Because the 2 biggest mistakes you can make when business gets tough is to reduce your prices and to widen your market.

I’ll come back to reducing prices at another time, but let’s deal with the widening of your market first.  I suppose it kinda makes sense to feel you must widen your market if your business leads are drying up.  After all, you want more clients.

But never get confused with wanting new clients with wanting to have any-new-client-who-will-have-you.

When you start to widen your market, it is easy to lose your focus, your speciality and your ability to compete with other businesses.

The more niche you are and the more focused your marketing is, the more successful you will be in winning more clients and customers.  And if there is one thing that you are more likely to win over other cheaper competitors is by being a specialist.

When you try to win any-new-client-who-will-have-you, your marketing starts to become spray and pray.  The more letters, emails, calls and tweets you can get out, the more chance you feel someone will come back to you.  Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.

Here are some of the problems caused by spray and pray marketing.

Sending everyone to the same website

Problem – the attention span of your average website visitor is less than 3 seconds.  People are not as patient online and scan web pages, rather than read them. If they can’t see the right information for them, they hit the back button.  And if you are sending everyone, online and offline, to the same home page, are you giving that potential new client the right information to make a decision on whether to buy from you?

How do you know if you have this problem? – check your web stats and look at your bounce rate.  This will show you how many people click away from your site after viewing only one page.  Also keep track of your conversion rates.  If you sell products and services online, how many visitors do you need to attract to your website to make one sale?

Solution – Having a separate website for each of your target clients is ideal, but not always practical.  Start off by having separate pages relevant for different clients and give out a dedicated web address to the right clients. For example a training business could have www.yourwebsite.com/retail if they have decided to target this sector.  When a potential retail client clicks through to this page, they can read about the problems retail businesses have, what specific solutions are on offer to them and what targeted results can be achieved.  There is a greater chance that this training company is going to be perceived to be a specialist in the retail sector, thus improve their chances of winning business.

Sending everyone the same letter & brochure

Problem – 1,000 letters and brochures are sent out to a mailing list which results in not one enquiry.  Expensive!

How do you know you’ve got this problem? – When the invoices for the printing and postage start hurting your bottom line.

Solution – Break down your database in to smaller lists, for example by industry sector, location or common problem.  Spend time modifying your letter so it is written specifically to that person.  The aim is to have each person read that letter feeling that it is written personally for them.  It focuses exactly on a problem they may have and gives them a clear call to action that is desirable enough for them to act on.  Save your printing costs and do away with the brochure, unless of course you have the budget to design a specific brochure to every target client.  And keep the mailing small enough so that you (or someone in your team) can follow up each and every letter by phone.  Follow up is key!

Sending everyone the same email

Problem – Emails are being ignored and possibly even reported as spam.

How do you know you’ve got this problem? – If you are using a subscription based email service, check your unsubscribe and open rates.  It may be easier to send every email to the whole of your database, but if it is resulting in your subscribers ignoring you, you are in danger of damaging your brand.  Remember, useful emails to some may be spam to others.

– Again, break down your database in to smaller lists.  Can you define people by the products they have bought?  Or where they have subscribed from?  Is there an opportunity to make a special offer to just those who signed up for a free report you offered last year?  If you want a lesson on targeted emails, just buy something from Amazon or Tesco.

Spray and pray marketing may feel like the right thing to do when you desperate to find more clients.  But don’t!  Take the time to focus on your target clients, focus on their common problems and focus on providing a solution that is right for them.

Niche is the key to successful small business marketing.

Got a comment to make? Do take a few moments and leave your thoughts.

Networking is one of the most effective forms of marketing, especially when you run your own business.  Even with the explosion of sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, nothing quite beats being able to get in front of “real” people, shaking them by the hand and having a face-to-face conversation.

But, let’s be honest here.  The big downside of networking is time.  There are only so many hours in a working week and, although it is very easy to attend networking events from breakfast right through to evening drinks, it doesn’t allow you, the business owner, much time to manage your day-to-day business.

One of the best definitions of successful networking I have come across is “being talked about when you’re not in the room.”

So if this creates an opportunity to use the power of networking without physically networking,, how can you come up in these conversations?

The secret to this is in what you offer.

Getting yourself talked about is not about defining yourself with a job title but helping others clearly understand how you may benefit specific people.  And the clearer and more specific you are in what problems you there to solve, the easier it is for people to bring you up in conversation.

That’s right – I’m talking niches here!

Let me give you an example:  Coaching.

You can’t go to a networking event without bumping in to at least 2 or 3 coaches in the room, can you?  And what do they all tell you what it is they do?  Yup, that’s right – coaching.

But what makes them stand out from each other?  Not an awful lot, to be honest.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I am sure that a lot of coaches are lovely people!  And yes, some of them say they are career coaches, business coaches or help people with their work/life balance.

But come one – how many coaches have you met in the last few weeks who stand out enough for you to have specifically talked about them to someone else?

Let me ask you another question.  Of the people you have met over the last few weeks, who have you talked about to other people?  And let’s go one stage further.  Who have you talked about to someone else, only to find that 2 other people also know their name?

How powerful is that?  Instant social proof that this person must be someone to be contacted if not just one person mentions them, but 2 others do as well.

More often than not, the real reason behind you remembering this person is because they were “niche” enough for you trigger a “oh, really – that’s interesting”.

They were “niche” enough for you to check them out on LinkedIn or have a read of their blog when you were back in your office.  Perhaps they were even “niche” enough for you to sign up for their newsletter or follow them on Twitter.

Telling people what you do is not enough to get you remembered.  And being “niche” enough is not just about targeting a particular client type.

Being “niche” enough is about being able to clearly define yourself in terms of what problems you solve and the results that your clients achieve.  The more specific and niche you are in the results you create, the easier it is for someone to “get you”.  And thus talk about you.

And remember, it’s not just about the conversations that happen in networking events.  The share-ability of social media makes you being talked about online even more powerful.  Someone’s comments about you become evergreen, staying right there for others to read and share too.

So stop telling people about what it is you “do”.  And start getting clearer on your “niche” so that others remember the problems you solve and the results you create.

Got a comment to make? I’d love to read your thoughts and ideas