Marketing, selling and promotion – the modern way of thinkingThere are lots of people who consider selling and marketing as essentially dishonest and manipulative. If that’s how you think, the chances are you will resist change with all your might. This resistance is expressed in sentiments such as:
1 I feel uncomfortable talking about myself and blowing my own trumpet
2 I sound phoney when I write about the benefits I offer
3 I’m just not the marketing type
4 I can’t sell myself, I’m far too uncomfortable.
It’s no wonder many professionals and technicians not only struggle with marketing, but feel uncomfortable and inauthentic when communicating with prospects about their services. Marketing becomes a “necessary evil.” The best way to get past these quite understandable feelings is to look at marketing your services from a new perspective. The negative feelings are bound to make you feel dreadful about marketing. Thinking in a completely different way should make you feel good.
Let’s explore the OLD THINKING -v- NEW THINKING
OLD THINKING
Marketing is manipulation intended to get people to buy things they don’t really need.
NEW THINKING
Marketing is about making people aware of a service that could make a real difference in their lives and businesses.
OLD THINKING
Marketing is uncomfortable because it talks about me and what I can do and how I’m better than other service providers.
NEW THINKING
Marketing is a valuable service in itself because the primary activity of effective marketing is to give away valuable information.
OLD THINKING
Marketing is dishonest because it depends on hyperbole and making false promises while charging high fees.
NEW THINKING
Marketing is honourable because it offers to solve problems or assist with challenges that are costing the client time and money.
OLD THINKING
Marketing is egotistical and self-centred, focused on me, me, me.
NEW THINKING
Marketing is helping with needs and wants, focused on them, them, them.
OLD THINKING
Marketing needs endless amounts of creativity and cleverness in order to get attention and response.
NEW THINKING
Marketing simply requires an understanding of clients’ problems, challenges and aspirations and your ability to respond accordingly
OLD THINKING
Marketing is highly competitive, so you need to make sure other professionals don’t know what you’re doing.
NEW THINKING
Marketing offers great opportunities for co-operation and creating joint ventures with other professionals.
OLD THINKING
Marketing takes huge expenditure of time, money and effort and gets a very poor return on the investment made.
NEW THINKING
Marketing is what you do in the natural course of your business-share value. The amount invested, when done effectively, is very small compared to the return.
So which thinking suits you? Only you can decide.
Tags: help don't sell, marketing, professionals who don't like selling, promotion, selling, uncomfortable with selling?
