Alchemy, Challenges, Clients & Customers, Coaching, Goals, Implementation, Outcome, Overcoming Obstacles, Product Creation, Taking risks
What kind of help do you give your clients or colleagues?
| Have you ever worked with a client who had some specific things they wanted you to help them with and you weren’t sure these things would work? What did you do? 1. Did you go along with them and give them advice and simply do the work they wanted? 2. Or did you tell them their plan had some flaws and wasn’t as good as it could be, and you proposed to help them come up with an even better plan? Seth Godin recently mentioned this kind of help in his blog. The second option is actually rarer – and in fact, more useful. Plus, it’s a bit harder to do. You have to have some chutzpah and good marketing and business chops to offer to help them come up with a better plan. Yet, when I look over the course of my career in corporate America and in my own business, the number of times I’d help my clients come up with a better plan now outnumbers the latter. When I first started, I didn’t know as much, and I was hungry for work. And my ego wanted to be recognized and supported. I was afraid to speak up for fear I’d be wrong. It was more difficult to take the risk when I felt like I didn’t have the knowledge, experience, or know-how like I do now. Currently, I’ve been working with a client for over two months. What amazes me is how we are in a different place now than when we started. How our goal for working together has shifted and changed with each weekly meeting. (This is not unusual.) They initially hired me to help them launch a 9-week cohort program to get 12 people enrolled. Since our work together, we’ve taken the time to really analyze their competition in their space. Once we started doing the research some fascinating alchemy started to happen. One of the many things I love about working with my clients is that there’s no fear around of a bit of “woo, woo” alchemy that happens on our journey of working together. After we did our homework on analyzing their market and the competition, they started to get several referrals from colleagues and past clients for people interested in their VIP program. What’s intriguing is it wasn’t officially launched promoted, or on their website. We were going to work on that a few months down the road. Yet, in our work together, they kept getting these referrals. So we shifted gears, and I worked with them to map out their program, offer, and help them get the sale. And to date, they’ve closed four people at $25k. This is a little of what I was talking about last week – defying logic and how “magic” just happens when you start focusing, and opening up to possibilities – the energy just starts flowing with this type of expanded thinking. If you missed last week’s email on defying logic – here you go. With my experience and connection with them, we easily made a shift in our work together, and I suggested we totally focus on the VIP promotion and helped them define this and move forward. This was a much more lucrative offer and more money than the initial program they came to me to help them launch. This is an interesting example of not only going with the flow. It’s also about paying attention to my client’s wants and needs. Then it’s looking at the current market and being able to suggest a shift to create a new plan that’s even better than they even thought possible. I love when that happens. What kind of help are you willing to give to your clients and colleagues moving forward? Will you follow along with a so-so plan someone shares with you? Or will you be willing to step out of your comfort zone or have the experience and chutzpah to share a new idea or offer to create a new one with them that’s even better than what they shared? You know what camp I’m in on this – Let’s strive to go out on a limb and make a bigger impact with our clients/customers. If I can do it, I know you can too! |
Note 1: Some ideas to inspire you about working with like-minded businesses. Marketing is so prevalent and is everywhere now, consumers are becoming so aware of tactics now, that these companies are trying to shake things up. Here are some ideas to inspire you about working with like-minded businesses – what can you give away for free to generate leads and interest?
These brands tested out some new creative sampling ideas:
- Heineken partnered with meal-kit service HelloFresh to let customers try its new nonalcoholic Heineken 0.0 with their dinners.
- Coca-Cola added samples in online shopping orders and donated products to frontline workers.
- The Freeosk is a contact-free kiosk that dispenses packaged samples at Albertsons, Walmart, Safeway, and other retailers.
Note 2: Want to brainstorm your big ideas? Simply hit reply – or grab some time with me here –
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