With this information as a foundation, I use my imagination to visualize in vivid detail what it’s like to be my client. As a marketer, I ask myself:
- What is this person’s day like?
- What are they concerned about?
- What keeps them awake at night?
- What are the things they secretly want that they’re afraid to share?
- What do they think and feel that they wouldn’t tell anyone?
- What would they hope that someone will give them the power to do?
- What do they really want to do? (Not what you think they should do.)
Research shows that when we actively imagine how others might feel in a situation, our empathy increases.
The Takeaway: Don’t sell products. Know your client’s problems using empathy. Then, sell solutions to those problems.
Step 2. Find the people who want their problem solved NOW.
I now use Twitter and Facebook advertising to target my customers at the exact moment they’re looking for solutions to their problem.
On these platforms, I precisely target people by their problems via the pages they follow and show interest in. If someone follows a niche expert who is known for solving a specific problem, it’s likely that they have that problem themselves. On the other hand, if they follow a popular musician, they could have any problem.
The Takeaway: Target your customers by the problem you solve for them.
Step 3. Build 100 percent of your communication around the problem.
I demonstrate my deep understanding of the client’s problem through my advertisement and landing page. I describe the problem in a rich and powerful way that allows them to visualize the words.
For example, imagine you have a weird tingling in your hand. It’s giving you shooting pains in your elbow, and you’ve never had it before. It’s getting worse, and you’re not sure what to do. Part of you fears the worst case scenario. Is this a symptom of a fatal condition?
Now, imagine a complete stranger comes up to you and starts to describe your exact pain down to a T. She describes it better than you could. Then, she gives you an idea to try.
Would you trust this person’s advice?
I bet you would, purely because she showed that she understood your problem. You’d wonder, “Is this woman reading my mind?”
People care less about fancy titles than they do about solutions to their problems. If you show people that you understand their problem, they will automatically assume that you can solve it.
The Takeaway: Show! Don’t tell.
Step 4. Offer ONE piece of free content that demonstrates that you have the solution to their problem.
Next, I create a webinar to provide real value to the prospects I’ve targeted.
I create only one piece of content because that’s all you need when you have great content that solves a problem.
I give away as much of the solution as I can in a single blog post, video, white paper, or webinar. Great free content will get you in front of more people, and it will build a deeper level of trust with them. In a 2012 study of 364 readers, online blog content that gave readers a meaningful learning experience increased trust in the author by 75.6 percent.
Do NOT be afraid to give away your best stuff. Here’s why:
There is a huge difference between information and transformation.
Even if you lay out a solution in detail, your audience will still need your product or service to implement it. So dazzle them with the quality of your information. You will always pick up more clients and customers than you would otherwise.
Step 5. Show them how to reach out to get your help solving the problem.
At the end of the webinar, I invite them to have a one-on-one phone call if they feel that working together is a good fit.
Of the people we talk to on the phone, we only extend the opportunity to purchase our program to people who we think are a perfect fit. We only want to work with people if we feel that we can deliver huge value for them. Otherwise, we’re doing them a disservice. This means that we say no to 40 percent of the people we talk to.
Take Action
If you take one thing from this article, let it be this…
Entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be marked by stress, worry, and overwork.
More than anything else, these are often symptoms of a missing fundamental in your business.
For me, that missing fundamental was not focusing on the customer’s problem first.
As a result of adopting the problem-first approach, I have a business that generates nearly $2 million in profit per year and only requires 20 hours of my time per week.
To get started, analyze how well you’re doing on the five fundamentals above and do everything humanly possible to make each step work. This may take months of aggravation and things not working, but when it finally “clicks,” you’ll likely see a huge jump, just like I did.
About Kennedy Cee
Kennedy Cee is the founder of Clients Oasis. Using his methods, coaches, experts, thought-leaders, and service professionals attract the perfect clients, at the perfect price, anytime they want. To learn more, visit his free webinar
